A Merman's Song
by Undercover Godmother
Summary: I heard that it was Luka's birthday soon, and that vocaloidotaku decided the theme was 'Fairy Tales.' So I mashed together Vocaloid with The Little Mermaid. Gakupo is a merman with a song. Luka is the princess he falls in love with.
1. The Song

He'd watched her from afar more than once.

The first time had been when he'd snuck up to the surface. How could he resist? Long had he collected the things that had fallen from the shipwrecks. Everything had been different; fascinating. This particular day it had been too much; he'd looked at the tantalizingly sunny surface and broke into the air.

Gakupo – crown prince of the merfolk – had broken the vow he had made to his father. However, this would not be his last time, not by a long shot.

The merman had arisen nearby to a beach. At first he was just ecstatic to be breathing air and feeling… some strange tickling sensation in the air around him. However the air was filled with more than just air to breathe. Gakupo leaned his ear near the sound, and smiled to himself.

Singing.

The song was beautiful. From what he could tell it was a song of desperation. At least, that was how this voice sang it. There was an underlying frustration to the soaring tune, and he had the sudden urge to discover – at all costs – who this voice belonged to. Perhaps it was because it was the loveliest voice he had ever heard.

He swam deftly around a few of the rocks that lined the shoreline, and soon found the source of the music.

Upon the beach was a girl. She was settled comfortably upon a rock sunning herself. Despite this she looked frustrated with the world around her. What struck him most was not her bubblegum-pink hair, (such hair colors were common amongst merfolk, his own hair was a vibrant purple,) but how overdressed she was.

Any human would have known that what was truly unique about this girl was that she was wearing a boy's tunic and pants. Or they would have commented upon the color of her hair.

Gakupo was too busy trying to figure out why humans thought they needed so much to cover them. He glanced at his tail, and tried to imagine fitting the strange thing the girl wore over her… legs. Humans had legs. And even then, why would they cover up their chests? Mermaids wore nothing to hide their womanhood. In many cases, it was the only thing that differentiated them from the mermen, for the men were so girly looking.

He laughed to himself. _Humans were such prudes._

The laugh must have been louder than he had thought, for the girl ceased her singing and stood up stiffly. He watched her look around, almost as if daring someone to come out and do something to her. He'd seen squids do the same thing. He grinned. That was what he would call her. 'Squid Girl.'

"Who's there?" She called, and his grin faded. If he were to be discovered by a human, his father would be livid. Gakupo began to leave. It would be better that way. Curiousity at what she would do held him back. "I know someone is out there. Who are you?" Her voice was lovely, even when she was speaking.

He imagined – if only for a few moments – what it would be like to sing a duet with her. Gakupo was known for having a tenor matched only by the baritone of his father. Wistfully, he thought about how the song would go – her soaring with his swimming.

The image dissipated when she began to look behind rocks for the source of the laughter. _Time to go,_ he thought, and dived back under the water. Back into safety. Back to home.

* * *

For the next few months he would visit her. Sometimes she came, sometimes she didn't. Occasionally she sang. Occasionally she talked.

Gakupo didn't care. He liked to listen to her, either way.

When she sang, he thought about the imaginary song between them that was building up. At times he thought he would explode with the way it burst through his mind. After some time, he began to hear it before he slept. It invaded his mind, and as it grew and grew in force, he began to visit with more frequency.

But when she talked – oh, when she talked – she talked of many sad things. She spoke her frustrations to the sea. When she got so upset that she cried his heart broke in tandem with hers. He had little idea as to what the words meant at first, but they soon began to grow in meaning. Years of developing a musical ear aided him in picking up the strange human language, and he began to practice speaking it on his own. He wasn't sure if he was right one hundred percent of the time; what mattered more was that he was trying with all his heart to comprehend.

Perhaps Squid Girl was an obsession to him. He loved to watch and listen, even if he felt as though he were invading something private. Which made him guilty and he wouldn't come for a few days. But the burgeoning need for him to see and listen would come again and he would return.

On day, he came and she was there talking about how she was going to be in something that she referred to as a 'ship.' He had no concept of what this was supposed to be, but he could tell that she was upset. Gakupo was left uncertain of what to do for the Squid Girl. Even though he wanted to comfort her, it would bother his father even more if he were to reveal himself to a human.

Hearing tears was what made him hurt the most. There was nothing more he loathed now than hear the normally optimistic and stubborn Squid Girl cry. Nothing.

Which was perhaps why the song burst out. The melody that had been building up inside his mind like an ominous presence burst forth from him. Although in Mermaidian, the meaning was still there. Partly it was a song of comfort. Partly a song of friendship. His voice bore tenderness unlike any song ever sung before. The music was alive, and was the purest form of music that someone could make – music straight from the heart.

The song captivated her. It seemed as though the entire universe was captivated by it. The waves almost held back so as to not interrupt, the wind held its breath for a short time. Even the wicked Sea Witch far in the depths of the ocean melted for that song.

Finally, he stopped. He had no more to say. All he heard was the girl saying, "That was beautiful. Who are you?" For a few moments, he ran the scenario of swimming around the rock and revealing himself to her. He thought about her reaction, though, and stopped. A man with a fin would be shocking to anyone on legs.

Gakupo dived deep beneath the sea feeling melancholy, undoubtedly leaving Squid Girl bewildered.


	2. Desires

Deep in the sea – deeper than most of the merfolk even dared go – was a cave.

Something unfurled itself within, reaching towards the melody which danced on the waves above. It sensed the song.

As it listened, it grew stiller. Something inside was being stirred – a sense of extreme need that it hadn't felt for ages. A sense of… wonder. For the time that this song remained the thing barely dared to breathe, almost as if it were afraid that a single movement would scare this beauty away.

She was as old as the waves. Older than anything else in this ocean. Yet she was eternal. Over the years, there had been many songs. Some sad, some happy. Some about love, and some about heartbreak. She had been there to listen to some of the best.

But none had ever made her heart beat. None had enraptured her so fully before.

She herself never had possessed the talent of music. That was something reserved for the alluring merfolk. Something inside her had always envied them for the ability. The songs normally taunted her and made her bitter enough to create a furious storm in retaliation.

This time, though, she just longed to possess that song for her own.

The Sea Witch sent tendrils of magic out in the ocean, stretching them as one would imagine an octopus stretching out its coils. It sound found the source of the song; the merfolk's crown prince: Gakupo. For a while she had known he had a lovely voice. But she hadn't known that he possessed the capability for such passion. It was at that moment that she knew that she needed this man to be hers. She wanted his music to be hers and hers alone until the world met its end.

However a human voice caught her attention in the scene as soon as he had stopped singing. She forced her magic to look up from the waters on to the girl who had splashed in. Anger made the Witch see red. It was clear that this little pink-haired chit was the cause of the song. It added up perfectly.

Raging, she knew that the first step to getting Gakupo to herself was to make this girl die. It was all too clear to her why the purple merman spent his time up there. She knew all too well that his father would have never allowed him above the surface. The King was far too fearful of humans for that.

Her eyes narrowed into slits and Teto the Sea Witch pulled her magic away. People who lived by the sea had to come inside sometime. And when that girl did… an evil smile crossed her face. Then she would act.

* * *

Fortunately, she did not have to wait long at all. The boat set sail with the girl on it on the fourth day of waiting. Judging by the festivities on board, it was a wedding party. Not that what happened outside of the sea really mattered at all to Teto.

They had to get out into the middle of the sea before she was willing to stir the sea into a tempest. She didn't want there to be any _chance_ of this girl surviving the ordeal. Then it would just be a simple matter of tempting Gakupo to her so he could sing.

Her heart melted a little at the memory, and she attempted to repeat the tune. However, the wretched sound that came from her mouth made her shudder. Thanks to her, the memory would be tainted.

Fury with herself for ruining the memory and jealousy hastened her actions. With a broad sweep of her arm, she felt the wind stir over the seas. The waves grew in height, and the screams of the people on deck sung in her ears. She grinned. How she was going to enjoy this.

With a cackle, lightning streaked the sky, cutting in half the stormy gray which had suddenly begun to appear around the ship. Clouds blackened the sky, and the waves moved with even more fury. If there was one thing you could give the Witch credit for, it was the showmanship which struck fear into the hearts of men who dared brave these waters.

A wave splashed heavily over the deck, and the guests clung for dear life to whatever they could get their hands on. Some were swept off, but the Witch noticed, with annoyance, that the pink-haired trollop was not amongst them.

She wielded the storm carefully, and had the lightning strike upon the boat itself. It lit up like a candle, and people began to panic on the boat. One voice could be picked out above the screams. "Get into the boats!" the woman she loathed shouted. "Captain, we need to get these people out of here!"

"Princess," Teto heard the man howl back, "You are the top priority. We will get you into a boat before anyone else gets into one." The Witch growled, and the sea swelled with that anger. No escape could be possible. No, the girl would die, and all of those she was trying to stubbornly save would die as a final price too.

Seeing a nearby cluster of rocks, the Witch grinned. The ship was suddenly tossed sharply upon the waves. _Goodbye, Princess,_ Teto thought contemptuously as the ship hull struck the rocks with a sickening crack. Water seeped into the boat, and the guests and boat sunk beneath the waves.

The red-haired Witch was pleased with the turn of events, and allowed the delightful storm she had brewing above to stir for a little longer. Just in case.

She watched gleefully, making note of the ones that struggled. This princess that Gakupo had been so enticed by was a fighter. She clung to bits of the mangled ship for dear life. Teto merely tossed her around a little bit more. There was no way to lose at this point. She could see the girl's fingers slipping from the final piece of wood.

The princess lost consciousness and slipped into the sea. The Sea Witch crowed in victory.

Until a familiar swatch of purple hair popped into vision on the wild sea, carrying a tiny bit of pink through the stormy dark waters. Anger overwhelmed her senses. How dare he save her! She had been so close! So close to… wait.

A plan began to formulate in her mind.

She would let Gakupo have the pride of saving this girl. She would let him fall deeper in love with her. The higher the pedestal to fall from, as the humans said. A wicked smile split her face.

The storm eased, and soon she watched Gakupo attempting to get the girl to breathe. The look of desperation on his face was almost enough to make her relent, but when the girl began to cough and breathe normally, she felt less pity. The merman tenderly traced her face and smiled. Softly, he sang the song again, if only for a few moments.

It was enough for Teto to convince herself that this was indeed her plan. She would wait. Hopefully he would do what most merfolk did – get desperate enough to come to her for aid.

As he dove back into the waters, she couldn't help but to squeal with a childish excitement. Her magic would be of use again, and she would soon have that song for her very own.

* * *

At the end of the week he came to her.

She had watched him from afar, and she could guess that it was because of his father's discovery of what he'd been doing during his disappearances.

Needless to say, his father had given him quite a thorough lecture on why it is humans are a bad thing. Mostly hitting on how humans ate fish, and that made them evil, and blah blah blah. Honestly, Teto thought that Triton could be a bore when he chose to be. Thankfully, he was also a strict bore, for she saw the glint of defiance in Gakupo's eyes when his father forbade him from ever seeing the human girl again.

_I win,_ she thought. With those words, the merfolk were about to lose the eldest son of Triton. It now would merely be a simple matter of telling the prince what her price was for what she could give him.

His hair streamed behind him, and he had a look of set determination upon his face. She allowed him to wander deep into her domain before she revealed herself to him.

For a few moments, she could see him hesitate. That was always their kind's reaction to her form. She had the upper body of a human – a beautiful human, many would say. However, her lower body was that of an octopus. It was hideous to them. They were used to having the elegant scaly tales. They had beauty and singing. Her only consolation to this fact was she had the power to make them bow to her if she so chose.

"Prince Gakupo…" she greeted him and grinned, "Whatever does a merman like you want in the cave of the Sea Witch?"

He paused, and then regained determination. "I need your aid," he said simply. Gently she tilted her head at him, and inspected the man for a few moments. Even though Teto had known full well what the prince had desired from her, she would feign curiosity.

"You do know that your father does not condone my help," she replied. "I would think that you would remain a loyal son."

"My father does not condone a lot," he stated somewhat bitterly. She laughed at that, and the sound reverberated through the cave.

"Indeed, Triton can be a bit harsh." She moved closer to him, and brushed his purple bangs away from his face. He was indeed a very pretty man. Inwardly, this made her sigh. What a pity. "But I still do not know why you are here."

Gakupo moved away from her as if disturbed by her touch, and took at deep breath. "I think I am in love."

"In love?" Teto scoffed, although inwardly it made her burn with jealousy. He nodded solemnly with her. She smirked. "What, does this mermaid not love you in return? I don't do love potions, you naughty boy."

At the mention of a mermaid, he frowned. "No… no… that's not the problem. She's a human. I think I might be in love with her." The innocence in his voice made her sick. _Honestly, these merfolk can be so naïve._

She nodded sagely. "Well, that _would_ be a problem, wouldn't it?" He looked to the side, as if troubled by that response. "But I do believe that there is a solution for your problem." He looked up at her, hope lighting his eyes. Teto took her time to get over to the shelves in the wall, which were covered in little glass vials. Her fingers hovered over each bottle until she plucked up a tiny bottle with a ruby red liquid inside of it.

"This is what you want." She held it out to him. "You will have three days to win this girl's affections. If not? Well, you will be killed by the poison of it. Turned into sea foam, in all likelihood." He hesitated, but clearly the benefits outweighed the risks in his mind. He began to reach for it. She curled her hand back, and smirked. "This is no charity, my prince. I require something in return for this."

In moments, his expression transitioned from hopeful to desperate. "Anything," he said. "What is it you want?"

"Anything?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Anything. I would do anything to get close to her." The resolve in his voice made her sure that he was quite serious about the offer.

Teto looked thoughtful for a few moments, and then said, "I want your voice." He frowned at her.

"But I'd need my voice to… to talk to her." She could tell that there was more to that statement, but she wasn't going to delve any further in the matter. She was so close she could practically hear his voice belonging to no one but her.

"You can still use gestures. If this girl cares for you, then it should be no issue for you." Doubt was growing in his eyes, and she needed to move quickly. "Three days, my prince, is really a great deal of time. You are a good-looking man. Surely you will be able to win her over." _Or you will die trying._

He looked speculatively at her. "If I win her heart, will I also get my voice back?" She could tell that this was a deal-breaker for him, and she nodded. It was impossible for him to win anyhow. Three days would never be enough.

"Yes. I swear you shall get your voice back."

"Then I accept."

She grinned cruelly, and gestured for him to get closer. He did so, and she held his forearm.

"Do not move, my prince. This might feel a bit… _uncomfortable_." With that, a tentacle wrapped around his neck, but not tight enough to make it impossible to speak. She began to mutter in an ancient language, and a light began to glow around his throat area. The magic pulled and pulled before finally, the little light left his throat and went into the large empty clam shell she had nearby. Pleased, she slammed it shut and released the prince. "Here's your potion." He took the bottle, and began to swim away.

Before he did so, she called out, "I suggest you drink it while on the beach. The moment the first rays of sunshine hit your scales, you shall turn into a human. The rest I trust you can figure out." He turned, and tried say his thanks. Not a sound came out. "I would get used to your lack of voice, my prince. You wouldn't want to make yourself a fool in front of this woman." He grimaced, and swam away.

Teto merely turned back to the shell, grinning. She had his voice. She had the song. As she opened up the shell, his voice queried as to what she willed of it.

"Sing your song," she asked in a hushed tone. As the wonderful notes began to dance in her caves, she sighed. For the first time, the Sea Witch could truly be happy.

* * *

**DISCLAMER:**

**It's NOT about Teto. I just REALLY needed a Sea Witch parallel, and she made sense because in Luka's "The Little Mermaid" video that I saw she was the Sea Witch.**

**Also the fact that she cannot sing in this version has to do with the character she is playing, not Teto herself or the other UTAUs.**

**Sorry if I offended anyone, but I surely did NOT intend to. At all. This is just for the sake of the story. ^^"  
**


	3. Change

**This is a short one. But I felt it was an important little thing. Do enjoy the shortness, and I will be back to you soon~  
**

**

* * *

**

Gakupo felt his heart tug a little. Someone was listening to the song. He knew, because his heart sang with the passion of it. Undoubtedly it was the Witch. It had been eerie to hear his own voice sounding fourth from the cave as he had swum away.

It seemed, though, that the song was so from the heart that he was conscious of it each time she commanded his voice to sing. Part of him was angry. That song… he'd intended it for Squid Girl. In his mind, that was _her_ song, and the Sea Witch had no right to it.

However, it had been his voice or living without her. He glanced at the vial for a few moments, and then clutched it in his hand. It was worth it. Even if he wouldn't be able to share with her right away… she would know him. Right? She wouldn't just _forget_ the man who had saved her.

The thought was so preposterous in his mind that he stuck it from his thoughts as quickly as they had come there.

In his mind, he heard the song like a bright pulse. It gave him the courage to swim even faster towards the beaches. There was hardly any time to waste.

The prince had left a letter to his family. He didn't want to distress his siblings or his parents. Part of him was somewhat depressed to be losing connections with his family – Gumi, Rin and Len, Meiko… inwardly he sighed. The price was steep.

But he had watched her for so long. He knew that she was a princess. He knew that he longed to sing with her, one day. He knew that there was something worthwhile out of the sea, and he had to be there.

Soon he reached the beach. The sky was starting to lighten, and he knew that he needed to hurry. Painstakingly, he pulled himself up on to the beach. Sand got in some uncomfortable places, but that fact mattered little to him. His attention was upon the bottle.

For a few moments he was doubtful. Three days to earn her love or he would die. Three days with no voice to woo her with. In the past, that had been a helpful part of winning girls over. The merman grimaced, and then turned his head towards the sky. The sun was starting to rise.

Gakupo looked back at the vial. It was now or it was never. Taking a deep breath, he popped the cork off and tilted it back into his mouth.

The moment he swallowed, an aching pain filled his body. It seemed to burn in his very veins, and he wondered – if only for a few moments – if the Witch had really just given him poison. Pink tinted the sky, and the sun peaked over the horizon. The colors glinted on his scales, making the purple just a little deeper…

He shouted silently to the world, and thrashed about. For a few moments, his world became nothing but the pain of transformation. The gills that kept alive in the water sunk into his skin. His slightly elongated ears became normal. But what was truly the most painful was the fin. Slowly the tail split into two scaly, shapeless forms. From that point, feet began to form and the scales fell off in a shower. Then other things began to shape.

The magic itself exhausted Gakupo. From all his wiggling, his hair was now filled with gritty little bits of sand. His arms were similarly decorated. He tasted grit, but this mattered little. Slowly, he rose his head to glance down at himself. A pair of legs and… something else. But the legs validated for him that he was human.

His head crashed back into the sand, and he fell asleep on the spot, happy that the Witch had not been a liar. Happy to be closer – in at least one way – to Squid Girl.

Perhaps he should have thought more about how a human might react to a butt-naked man lying on her beach.


	4. Found

Princess Luka went for a walk that morning.

She liked the morning air, and it was a good time to collect her thoughts while the rest of the castle was still too busy preparing for the day for anyone to fuss over her.

This particular princess wore unconventional clothing – pants, a man's dress shirt, a tight vest that was some nod towards her womanly figure, and boots. Even her long, pink hair was tied back into a functional bun. She had been expressly forbidden to cut it. Etiquette teachers always complained about her mode of dress, and her parents often pleaded with her to wear something feminine. She replied to them that if femininity meant not being able to breathe or move she would take no part in it.

Not that she was always the rebellious sort. No, at times she caved in to her parents and wore gowns and the like. It was mostly for balls and formal dinners, but it at the very least gave her parents some hope for their daughter. For this walk, however, she would wear clothing that suited the activity.

As she climbed over the rocks which surrounded her favorite beach, Luka looked pensive. She had climbed over the rocks so many times that it was by habit now, and she didn't need to watch were she was going to know what spots to avoid. Now her mind could be occupied with other things.

For the past few days she'd been thinking a few things over. Most of all, she'd been thinking about the storm that had so suddenly struck the wedding ship. The sailors hadn't been expecting any such storm. The sky had been quite clear that day. No signs had been there to indicate that such a tempest would come.

So many people had died that night. Thankfully, her parents had stayed on land. But the friend whose wedding it had been was lost forever to the sea._ What was supposed to be the best night of her life, turned out to be the last._ Luka thought bitterly. For a while it had seemed as though they could have escaped on the boats. Once the ship had struck the rocks, though, there hadn't been a chance for them.

But she had survived.

That was the mystery. Not that she wasn't grateful for being alive, but it was hard to believe that it was possible.

She always reviewed the night in her head when she reached this point in her thoughts. The festivities had been getting into full swing when the storm had hit. Waves had crashed on their tiny ship from all sides, and she had tried to evacuate people into boats. Just as the captain insisted that she herself get in one of the smaller vessels, the waves had somehow managed to throw them into the rocks. Even now, the crack rang in her ears like a death knell.

Luka remembered the ship sinking deep into the cold waters. She remembered clinging to a piece of the ship as it steadily got harder to hold. The dress she had worn for the occasion had dragged her down. She remembered sinking and then only vague impressions of the world.

For a few moments, her thoughts had been aflutter. The water closed around her oppressively, like a smothering cover. Steadily, though, things became hazier. Arms tightened around her, and in powerful stoke, they pulled her up to the surface. At that point she'd passed out.

Her next clearest memory was lying on the very beach she was headed to now. Coughing violently, but not quite awake enough to know quite what was going on. Something caressing her face so lightly it was like a summer breeze. And then a song. A song that was so beautiful and haunting that she never could have forgotten it.

The language was unfamiliar. But there was such deep meaning there that she could never forget it. It was the same song that she had heard sung to her on the beach a few days earlier. As she began to stir, she heard a splash.

Putting two and two together, she knew that her rescuer was a male. Only a man could have a voice of that tonality. The other things she knew was this man came and went by the sea. Luka was infuriated that should figure out _how_. You don't just swim away after you save a princess.

Mysterious as her rescuer was, she was deeply grateful to whoever it was. She wanted a chance to, at the very least, meet a man who was heroic enough to dive into stormy waters to pull her to safety.

Her thoughts concluded as she pushed herself over the last rock. The salty air stuck her face, and she grinned. The briny air was lovely, even if she would taste salt for hours afterward.

The woman looked out at the sea, and then down at the shore. She screamed, turned her gaze towards a rock, and began to blush a violent color of pink.

_Calm down, Luka,_ she told herself, trying to control the heat flushing in her cheeks. _There wouldn't be a naked man on your beach. That would be ridiculous._ Slowly, she turned her head back to where she had seen him, and then redirected her gaze back to the rock. There was indeed a man on the beach. And he was most certainly as bare as a newborn baby.

Luka thought about what she was to do about the situation. Even though she knew it would be wrong to leave him here, she also knew that she couldn't bring herself to drag him back to the castle by herself with him completely exposed to the world.

Taking a deep breath, she slowly took off her vest, and tiptoed towards him. She was extremely careful to not look at any of his extremities, and the moment she was close enough, she tossed her vest around his nude manhood.

_Why me?_ She asked this to the world silently, and knelt so that she could easily lean an ear towards his mouth. When a light break tickled the ear, she smiled, and straightened herself. He was breathing, that was a good sign. The woman noted that he smelled strongly of fish and ocean water, and the combination was not a particularly pleasing one. She inspected the rest of him quickly, and was glad that he was unharmed. Luka assumed that he had washed up from a wreck of some kind.

_A lucky survivor,_ she thought,_ a lot like me. I wonder who he lost?_ She tilted her head, and looked at his face. This was a handsome man. His features were as pretty as many of the princes she had met. The most shocking thing about him was the vibrant purple of his long hair, which was covered in sand, much like the rest of him.

Her eyes trailed downward – if only for a few seconds – and she blushed furiously and looked back up at his face. That was much safer than anywhere else. Although her clothes didn't conform to the times, her manners certainly did. She was prude enough that seeing a man with his chest bared was a bit disorienting for her. This? Well, this took the cake.

She stood to go get some help. At least for now she knew he was okay, but he wouldn't remain so if she just left him lying on the beach.

Luka stumbled up the castle, and called for servants to go down to the beach and carry the naked man up to a nice room in the castle. It was the very least she could do, seeing as they knew nothing about him and he might be nobility. If not, someone who had survived something so traumatic deserved the best possible treatment.

Things were slow, and her parents asked her multiple times what a man with no clothing was doing on her beach. Her cheeks burned with embarrassment every time they asked. Honestly, what did they _think_ she was doing? After explaining for the six or seventh time that she had indeed _found_ him on the beach and _nothing _had been happening, they seemed satisfied.

Rolling her eyes, she watched the servants carry him up to the rooms. On their way out, she caught one of them and said, "Make sure there's a breakfast of some kind for him. The heartiest foods you can find. He'll need it, undoubtedly." The servant nodded, and scurried away.

Sighing, she glanced inside the room. Someone had had the forethought to give him clothing. The princess smiled. He looked peaceful. Feeling satisfied with the effort made for this man, she ducked out to find another servant who would tell her when he was awake.


	5. Dinglehopper

**So... I fail at life, and haven't gotten this story done for Luka's birthday.**

**I'M SO SORRY. *gaspgasp***

**But other than that, do enjoy. ^^**

**

* * *

**

Gakupo stirred a little, and opened his mouth in such a manner that one would suspect he was groaning silently. His newly-formed joints ached, and he stretched. Being human hurt.

Making a clicking sound with his tongue, he flopped himself over to go back to sleep. But… the beach was much too soft. He trailed his hand on the cloth covering him, and then finally took stock of his surroundings. Definitely not a beach.

He wanted to laugh at himself. Of course not, how had he missed that the sound of waves crashing was gone? That the air was not sharp with salt? The – blankets, right? – were soft and white, and he would have been content to sleep for ages. If he hadn't remembered that he didn't have the _time_ to sleep the day away.

Abruptly, the man tried to stand, but stumbled and fell to the floor with a loud thump. He silently frowned at himself. Walking was not as easy as he had thought it would be. Looking around, he reached for a chair to stabilize himself with. Water was so much easier to deal with than this; you never had to really worry about falling down unless you were a real fool.

Gripping the chair, he pulled himself to his feet. For a few seconds he wavered, but then he had his balance. He took a few small experimental steps. After which, he began to pick up speed until he was bounding around in his comfortably sized room.

This would, naturally, be when a servant carrying a tray – thankfully male – walked in on the naked man running around like it was the greatest thing that had ever happened to him. Gakupo stopped his wild running, and looked at the man, before smiling in a friendly manner.

"Um… Sir… you should perhaps, ah…" The servant gestured towards the pants on the chair. Gakupo frowned. He'd seen the princess wearing those, and they looked dreadfully uncomfortable. However, he did as he was told. When you were a human, you did as the other humans did.

He pulled the foreign clothing articles, and slipped them on in a way that could only be described as utter failure. In a frustrated manner, he struggled with getting his legs in, and fitting that annoying mini leg on top of all that.

After watching the pathetic show for a while, the servant stepped in to aid him. The servant gave him a quick tutorial on how to put on your pants, before he watched Gakupo go through the whole process. "What's your problem, eh?" the servant asked somewhat disdainfully. "Everyone should know how to put on their pants." Gakupo wasn't sure how to respond to that question. "Ah well, what's your name, chap?"

Gakupo's frown deepened. He didn't know what a 'chap' was, but he knew that 'name' was what people called themselves. Issue was, he couldn't respond. Anxiously, he tapped his lips and shook his head. Understanding dawned in the man's eyes.

"Mute." Well, Gakupo sure hoped that was the right word. He nodded vigorously. "Pity, that. You can't speak… maybe you can write?" That made the merman pause. Write? Perhaps in his language, but not in this one. He shook his head slowly, and he watched the man grit his teeth. "Well, that _is _a problem. We'll need a name for you." Gakupo knew his name, but if it would make this human feel better. "Hmm… how 'bout John?" Gakupo grimaced, and shook his head. There was really no point to this game. The servant tried a few more names, before he just gave up. "There's food in that tray I brought in. Eat up. I'll tell the princess you're up."

He left, and Gakupo headed towards the tray. Just as he had lifted the lid up to look at a mystery lump of yellow and strips of red, the man popped his head back in. "Oh, and put that shirt on the chair on. Arms through the holes, got it?" Gakupo nodded to him, and the servant left. _And I didn't even get his name, _Gakupo thought as he obligingly put the shirt on. He did not, however, button it. That hadn't been part of the instructions.

Pleased with himself, Gakupo set to work on investigating the yellow stuff. Well, clearly it was edible, but he didn't have a clue as to what it was supposed to be. It smelled pretty good, and so he picked some up some of it and ate it. It wasn't good, but it wasn't great. He went on to try to red strips, which were much better. _Surely humans don't just eat with their hands…_ He looked around, and found a tiny shovel-thingwhich he could use to scoop the yellow stuff into his mouth. The strips he could eat with his hands.

The man finished with his meal, and then looked on the other side of his plate. Grinning, he plucked up what we know as a fork. To him, it looked an awful lot like a comb. Glancing at his ratty hair, he began to stubbornly work at the little knots.

You'd be surprised by how well brushing one's hair with a fork worked.

Happily, he stopped to look at the fork. _You need a name,_ he thought, _dinglehopper. It means 'useful one' in my language._ A big goofy grin cut the man's face in half as he continued to brush the purple tresses into perfection.

As if the servants report hadn't already made him look like a fool enough to his Squid Girl, the fact that she walked in on him happily combing his hair with an eating utensil certainly did.

"Well I see you're up," he heard a familiar voice say. He looked behind him, and grinned at the pink-haired beauty. _Squid Girl!_ He shouted the thought joyfully, and felt the song building up inside so forcefully that it ached more than his joints had this morning. A wave of sadness drenched the joy quickly, for he knew that he couldn't vocalize the song.

He noticed that she looked quite unimpressed with his combing, and he wondering what was wrong with someone wanting to comb their hair. Perhaps there was a law against it for humans? _Don't be silly, Gakupo,_ he scolded himself. Occasionally, his thoughts ran away from him.

"What in the name of goodness are you doing with that fork?" she asked, almost as if she were talking to an idiot child. His eyes widened, and he looked at his dinglehopper. Or, rather, the fork, which one did _not_ brush their hair with. Rapidly, he put the fork down, and looked sheepish. "So I hear you can't talk."

He grimaced. _I wish I could._ Gakupo thought this at Squid Girl with all his might, praying she could understand that. However, she continued. "I also hear you can't write." She smiled at him, and for a moment, he felt his breath stop. That first genuine smile undid him. Honestly, he'd just listened to her and loved her then. But now? Well, he was hopeless now. "But I'm pretty sure I can help you with that." It took him a second to catch up to her, and he nodded eagerly.

"Good," she said. "I'm Luka." Luka. He'd memorize the name and hear it in his sleep. _LukaLukaLuka. I still like Squid Girl, _he thought. Suddenly, he had a thought. He stood up so as to pantomime his idea better. He saw, however, that Squi- _Luka,_ he reminded himself sternly, was turning a bright red.

"Y-you…" She pointed at his chest, and looked down with wide eyes. _What?_ He wanted to ask. "You don't have your shirt closed!" Her blush deepened, and he wanted to laugh. She was really cute when she was flustered. Taking a deep breath, she turned away from him. "Close your shirt. I'll… meet you in the library. When you have your shirt on _properly_." The woman hurried out of the room, slamming the door on her way out.

Gakupo blinked. What had _that_ been about? Library? So many questions and yet all he really wanted to do was spend all the time he could with Luka. The servant from earlier came in, and laughed at the way the purple-haired man stood there with a bemused expression on his face.

The servant crossed his arms, shaking with the force of his cheerful laughter. "You really are something. I haven't seen Princess Luka so flustered in a long while. And all because you forgot to button your shirt up, eh?" The older man shook his head, and sighed gamely.

"Now look here," he said to Gakupo, who was still looking at the door like a puppy who was hoping its master would come back soon. The servant seemed to understand, and grinned. "You'll see her soon enough, but you need your shirt closed, or her father will surely castrate you before you think 'Oops.'" Gakupo focused on the helpful man, and listened for the instructions.

"Before I help you out, you should know that my name is Gregory, but you can just think of me as Greg, eh?" Gakupo grinned at him, and nodded. "Good, now. Buttons. They go through this little hole here, see?"

* * *

**Awkwardness...**

**I kinda loved writing this. It killed me. XD**

**But... there's lovely art attached to this. By kkbook, who is AMAZING. **

**I'll post the link in a review. ^^**

**Oh, and the dinglehopper is a MUCH NEEDED throwback to the Disney version~  
**


	6. Writing

_Why did I completely lose my calm back there?_ Luka asked herself this again and again as she paced back and forth within the grandiose library. What was it with this mysterious man? It seemed like every time she was near him, she blushed.

If anything, she thought the embarrassment was a frustrating emotion, seeing as it was difficult to control. That and she felt like an utter fool each time she blushed because everyone seemed to find it an amusing sport to watch Princess Luka become redder than a tomato.

The thought of some of the teasing calmed her mind some. The quiet anger that she had felt at the time settled her mind some. She could deal with the coldness of anger, but embarrassment and other warm emotions could be more difficult at times. Perhaps that was why she liked being alone and reading so often. Those were calm times, times when she could think without the everyday madness and stupidity.

She'd claimed a little corner of the library. It was closed off mostly by bookshelves, and in the center was a table. It seemed like the perfect place to teach someone to write. She smiled to herself, but was suddenly nervous again when the doors opened.

The princess rounded the corner, and silently prayed that the man would be fully attired. He was, and looked perfectly charming with the frilly cravat on with a vest to add extra refinement. If it weren't for his outlandish purple hair – which was now tied back into a pony tail – he probably would have fit in perfectly with classically handsome men.

However, somehow the purple hair added a charm to the norm. It was refreshing, and that made her smile. He seemed to pause and focus on her and they stared at each other – as if they were each trying to understand the other. It made her uncomfortable, and she looked over at the servant who had brought him. "Thank you, Gregory. Please leave us." The servant nodded, and turned to leave.

Luka watched him go, and then silently gestured for the purple-haired man to follow her into the little alcove.

"Sit here," she said, gesturing to a seat even as she sat down in the adjacent chair. Awkwardly, he struggled to sit and pull the chair up to the table. She smirked inwardly. Why was he so odd? It seemed as though these simple things were a challenge for him… it was completely inexplicable. "Okay, so do you know _anything_ about writing?" Her tone was hopeful. He looked up at her, and shook his head. She sighed. This was going to be difficult.

Running a hand through her hair, she gave him a small smile. "No problem. Let's start with the basics, alright? Here's how you make a big A – or a capital A."

The lesson went for hours. Every now and then, he shot her a quizzical look, and she stopped to explain what it was she meant. Mostly it was the vocabulary that she used which seemed to confound the man. Luka was determined to teach him, though, and she worked past his bad handwriting and poor spelling until he'd managed to write out a full sentence.

Naturally the first thing she asked him to write his name. Patiently, she explained what letters to use so he could write out 'my name is.' Unfortunately, the fact that he couldn't spell anything out made things a great deal more challenging than she had expected.

Steadily, he wrote out the words, and then seemed to stop to think. "Just write your name," she encouraged. However he just sat there for a few seconds, and then in the same, slow manner, wrote something out. Beaming as if proud of himself, he slid the paper over to her.

There, Luka saw something that resembled a name. Slowly, she sounded what she believed the letters were. "Ga-" he nodded to her excitedly, "Gak- u," She watched his excitement build, and she assumed that she was getting warm. "Gaku- p… p… o." Luka stopped, and read the whole things out. "Gakupo?" At that, she looked up at him, questioningly. He grabbed her hands – dropped the quill he'd been using in the process – and nodded wildly, grinning ear to ear.

His pleasure was infectious, and she smiled back. "Gakupo…" she said it thoughtfully. An interesting name for an interesting man. She looked down at the page and sighed at its contents. It was smattered with messy letters and nearly unrecognizable scribbles of words… but at the bottom a very important little sentence sat.

Luka looked into Gakupo's face, and he seemed to be looking for approval. "Ah… well… this is quite good for a first day of writing." The words were lame, but they seemed to please him, and that was enough for her. Her gaze strayed to the window, and she noticed that the sun was already starting to set.

She stood, looking surprised. Had they really been at it all day? She looked at the page once again. A productive day, although her parents were probably wondering where she was… She looked down at Gakupo, who was inspecting his scribbling somewhat critically. For a few moments, she was at a loss of what to do or say… honestly, it was hard to talk to a mute man. At times she felt like she was just talking to a wall. A moving, breathing wall, but it was just as thoroughly unresponsive of an experience at times.

A gurgling growl cut the silence, and she looked over at the man who grimaced at his belly. She could sympathize with that. "We should probably go get something to eat… come with me." He grinned at her, and they began to leave the library.

"Just out of curiosity, do you think you could point out where you lived on a map?" She turned to ask the question just as his foot caught on a pile of books which sat next to a bookshelf. It was as if the world slowed for a few moments. Luka saw his look of astonishment, and watched him attempt to reach for something, but nothing came within his grasp.

She knew what was going to happen before it occurred, and her muscles simply froze up for some inexplicable reason. The purple haired man came clattering down, and she fell underneath him. Thankfully, he managed to catch himself with his hands so that he didn't land face first into her chest, but such that it appeared as though he was kneeling over her with an arm steadying him. Her pink tresses were splayed about, having fallen from the clip which had previously held it up. A light rosy coloring began to appear on her cheeks.

She watched his momentary panic and concern dissipate slowly. It was as if he were worried about harming her, which was bizarre because she hardly knew the man. Gakupo's purple eyes met her own blue ones, and they just stared at each other. In those eyes, she thought, lay a deeper meaning. They seemed to plead for her to understand something about him, although what it was exactly was completely beyond her comprehension.

This would, naturally, be the exact moment that her father would walk in.


	7. General Abuse and Confusion

**AAAAAND THE KING IS... SOME RANDOM OC! 8D**

**I was too lazy to pick an actual character, and no one really fit in my head.**

**And I've decided that the king and Gakupo are very alike in their silliness. But you'll find that out soon enough. ^o^**

**

* * *

**

The older man walked in, completely calm, until his eyes landed upon the scene of a man straddling his precious daughter. He stood there, steadily getting redder until he finally gained enough control of his shock-addled mind to deal with the situation.

He strode over and briskly tossed the mystery man off his daughter. He didn't even look back at the purple-haired miscreant, for if he had he would've seen the look of utter confusion in Gakupo's eyes.

Gakupo was so naïve that he didn't even know that this was considered very scandalous to humans.

Blustering, he pulled his daughter up from the floor. "What did he do to you? Are you alright? He didn't touch you, did he?" The stream of questions continued, interspersed with King Hiroto looking over his daughter, searching for any injuries. All the while, Luka was attempting to get a word in edgewise. He then glared over at the man – who was quickly becoming an enemy in his mind.

"Guards!" the King shouted commandingly, while moving a protective arm around Luka. "Arrest this… this… rapist!" He put on a most imposing face, while Gakupo looked utterly bemused. One could practically see the gears turning in his head as he attempted to figure out what a 'rapist' was and why it was – judging by the way this man who he assumed was Luka's father was acting – such a bad thing.

Just as the guards marched in, Luka finally managed to break away from her father's protective arms. "Father," she said, "Gakupo wasn't doing anything to me. I'm fine. I'm a big girl, and if he were, in fact…" she trailed off and muddled on, knowing that her father knew full well what she meant, "I'd be able to take care of it. Self-defense, remember?"

Occasionally her parents were guilty of forgetting that Luka could indeed take care of herself. And that she was not nearly so dependant as many of the other princesses that they had met.

"All the same!" the king thundered, "That man had no right to be… He was straddling you!" Gakupo pointed to himself, his eyes wide with confusion. The question was easily enough read on his face, 'Who, me? What did I do?' He poked Luka on the shoulder, and his eyes begged the question.

"Don't you touch her," her father snarled. Luka shook her head in exasperation.

"He fell, Father. Fell." She motioned towards the pile of books that was now toppled over pointedly. "If you had the library organized from time to time it might not have happened. Now would you please stop shouting?" Luka turned and dismissed the guards with a wave of her hand.

Grimacing, the king crossed his arms and seemed to sulk for a few moments, before his demeanor rapidly changed to one of ease. "Well, at least that's sorted out then. Luka, I'd like for you to go meet with your mother. She and I have a few things we'd like to discuss with you." He quickly began to usher her out of the room, and Gakupo moved to follow. However, the king gave him a withering glare that said 'Stay put.'

Gakupo was unlikely to defy such a look, and so he stayed still. Once Luka was out of the room – although she seemed to pause because she knew all too well that her father was about to scold the poor idiot who was currently trapped inside – the king turned on Gakupo.

"Well, who are you?" Gakupo's eyed widened, and he gestured wildly trying to tell him that he couldn't speak. The king merely frowned, until Gakupo ran off to grab the piece of paper which Luka had helped him write. Somewhat proudly, he presented his work to the king.

The other man scrutinized the paper, before he looked at Gakupo again. "You're the one who can't speak, right?" Gakupo nodded wildly. Somewhat thoughtfully, the king looked at him. Voice threatening, the man said, "If I _ever_ catch you with my daughter again…" he blustered for a few moments. "You'll be… severely punished! Mark my words. She is a princess and cannot be canoodling with commoners, even if you two weren't doing anything. I'm watching." His eyes narrowed.

Gakupo became serious and nodded solemnly. The purple-haired merman was not so obtuse that he couldn't identify a protective father when he saw one. But inwardly he was protesting. He was a prince, and not common! Although he severely doubted that his royal status in the sea applied on land.

This seemed to satisfy the king, for he grinned amiably at Gakupo, who was slightly confused about how quickly this man's emotions shifted. He was more unpredictable and moody than the Sea Witch, and well, that was saying something. "Good," said the king. "I'm glad we have an understanding." The king waved for him to leave and then said, warningly, "Remember. No messing around with my daughter. Now go."

Gakupo left in a hurry, although for a few moments he was unsure of what to do. His heart said that he should find Luka. His head said that it was probably safer to leave now.

However, Gakupo was not terribly good at listening to his head. The merman ran off to find Luka, whom he thought was much safer and prettier company.

_What a bizarre king,_ thought Gakupo. Although, he could attest to the fact that his father was equally… volatile in nature. Maybe you lost your mind when you were king. Perhaps that was part of the job requirement. Gakupo shuddered. At least he was no longer in line for _that_ job. He'd never liked the idea of having to rule people – he knew there were people better suited for that job.

For a while, Gakupo wandered. He was lost. This human castle was _far_ more confusing than the palace below the sea. That one was all open and this one was filled with misleading corridors and gigantic rooms.

It was a relief was Greg finally found him. Or rather, he ran into Greg. "What are you doing here?" asked the servant in disbelief. Gakupo looked around and shrugged, which elicited a smirk from the servant. "You're lost." It was not a question. At first Gakupo was going to deny it, but then he nodded sheepishly. Greg shook his head, and grinned. "You idiot. Come this way. She'd probably wondering where you are."

Gakupo didn't appreciate being called an idiot, even if the label was appropriate at times. However, he knew that he was hopeless on his own. He followed Greg like the metaphorical lemming that he was. Not that Gakupo even knew what a lemming was.


	8. Dinner Time

Luka had waited. And waited. And waited.

And as she waited she got more and more agitated. Her father wouldn't actually kill Gakupo, would he? Yes, he'd caught them at an… awkward moment. The memory made her blush a little. It was embarrassing to be caught… well… like that. But to be honest, Gakupo was nothing more than a very innocent man.

Really, the fall had been completely unintentional, and from what she'd seen he was not always the sharpest knife in the drawer. The man couldn't even write for goodness sake, and his wide-eyed confusion during the previous situation told her that he had _no clue_ what her father had been so furious about.

How could someone be so clueless?

The enigma which Gakupo presented was confusing to her. This man was washed up on shore, and he didn't have the ability to speak, no ability to write and didn't seem to have the slightest inkling as to what certain social conventions were.

Despite all this she found herself smiling about his idiocy. Perhaps his lack of understanding was what she really needed in a life bound up by social rules.

Besides, she couldn't deny that overall it was pretty charming and amusing to watch him struggle along.

But there was more to him than just his innocence… she remembered the look in those endless purple eyes. The look which begged understanding. A look which asked her to look past what he had presented to her and find something more, like a deeper truth. A warm feeling tingled up in her stomach at the thought – those eyes had been beautiful and she wanted to know more about him…

Yet she quickly shook her head and turned her head towards the door where she was waiting expectantly for the man to appear. _Think about something else, Luka,_ she scolded herself_. Where is Gakupo?_

Her father had, in fact, lied to her to get her to leave the room. Her mother hadn't been waiting for her. At the time, though, she had brushed it off. Although her father could be overprotective, he was really quite the bumbling sort. Mostly, she knew that he was full of bluster and never really did any harm.

Although he'd never seen a man straddled over his daughter before – not that there had ever been any other instances to see. But for all she knew that had pushed him a little too far.

The princess was nearly about to go hunting for Gakupo when Greg opened the doors and lead him in. She raised an eyebrow and question and Greg said, "He got lost, Milady. Not very kind of you to leave him wandering about without any directions to speak of." She wanted to laugh at herself. Of course. She had just totally abandoned poor Gakupo in the castle.

She was, however, relieved that he was still in one piece. At least her father hadn't done anything rash in a fit of over protectiveness. Luka glanced at Gakupo, who was looking around at the room in some awe.

Who could blame him, really? It was a small drawing room, but the chandelier which hung over the tiny table was a real work of art. Besides that, it was beautifully furnished and it had a wall of windows which were for the best view of the sea possible.

He walked over slowly and touched the glass. It was as if he were hypnotized by the water. The look in his eyes was distant and the look on his face was serious. She wondered if there were some distant memories out in the sea for him. However, the memories he had weren't bad, they merely saddened him. He'd lost his family and all for… he glanced over at Luka and then smiled. It was still worth it.

Luka returned his small smile with one of equal size. "Let's eat, shall we?" He nodded, and he watched carefully how she sat and followed suit. No need for him to make a fool of himself because he was unsure of what was proper for humans.

Heck, the fact that they covered up their chests was confusing enough. He could understand wanting pants – the dangly thing would be horrendously awkward without them. But did women have those too? He doubted it, because they didn't have the bulge which implied its presence.

She settled gracefully in a chair, which he followed in suit by nearly tripping over his own feet and landing face first in the platter of food which still had its cover. He looked at the silver thing, and was momentarily fascinated by his reflection. Did he look any different as a human – legs and dangly thing excluded? Although blurry, all his previous features looked the same.

Grinning to himself, he pulled the lid off his plate and was met with some warm steaminess. However, what he saw on the plate made him pale.

A big red lobster stared at him, and his eyes widened. They didn't… actually… eat…? He glanced at Luka, who had a salad on her plate. Quickly his eyes darted back down to his plate, where he wished that a salad would appear. Maybe they had just put one there to amuse him? Maybe it was playing dead.

_Silly lobster,_ he thought, poking it playfully. The red creature didn't move. Any color that had been in Gakupo's face left. He was torn between wanting to cry for the deceased lobster and storming out of the room because it was for the sake of feeding him that it had been killed.

Although he'd never met a lobster with a kind disposition (much like crabs, they tended to be a little grumpy and defensive) he was sure that this one had once been a part of a family that had loved it. For a few seconds, he was going to condemn the entire human race because they killed other animals.

Luka noticed that stunned look on his face and quickly touched his hand which he'd unwittingly clenched on the table. "What is it?" she asked him, her expression worried. He looked to the side a little bit angrily, and gestured pointedly at his plate. Her eyes widened, and quickly she gestured for a servant to take the crustacean away. "Replace it with a salad," she whispered into the girl's ear. "Something with no meat."

Her attention then turned to Gakupo. "I'm sorry," the princess said. "I thought that perhaps you might need some kind of meat, and lobster seemed fine. I didn't know you were a vegetarian." He frowned at the word, but he nodded fiercely. He hoped that meant that you didn't eat any animals that lived in the sea.

Silence permeated the air. He was still a little bit upset by the dead-lobster-on-my-plate thing and she was struggling to figure out some way to make it up to him. _Why does it matter to you, Luka? You've only just met the man. Let him stew in his anger,_ a voice in her head told her. But she quickly retorted with, _Because I do, now shut up and help me._

Finally, she leaned forward and said, "I hope I didn't upset you too much." He turned to her, and looked into her eyes. Placing his hand on top of hers, he sighed and gave her a small smile. His anger was gone, and his focus was entirely on her. The attention made her squirm a little as is, but when she noticed the look of the servant who was placing the salad in front of Gakupo, she quickly pulled away and put both of her hands into her lap. She played with her fingers furiously, and tried her very best to disappear into the chair. The blush on her face quite nearly let her camouflage with the red velvet of the chair.

Inwardly she kicked herself. What was wrong with her? This ghastly, ticklish embarrassment that she was experiencing was something was a first for her. And she'd only felt it around him. Mentally, she glared across the table for making her so uncomfortable. When she actually looked up though, he looked so pleased with his salad that no one could have been unhappy with him at that moment.

Her mental glare dissipated in a moment and she smiled at him.

Quietly she spoke to him over dinner. He smiled at her. She could tell when he was laughing by the way his shoulders shook silently. She could only imagine how hellish it was to not be able to vocalize one's laughter. She herself couldn't imagine such utter silence. Absentmindedly, she rubbed her throat once or twice in sympathy. No talking or laughing or singing. It made her cringe mentally.

Besides that, the mere thought of being unable to express her thoughts made her want to shudder.

However she kept up a steady stream of chatter. Honestly, she'd never had to speak so much during a dinner. At times it felt awkward, because even though she knew he couldn't really contribute much to the conversation she felt like she was hogging the whole conversation. But he seemed content to just eat and listen.

She did have to wonder, though, how much the man actually listened while he devoured the decadent chocolate cake that the chef had made. He also seemed to delight in the strawberries and whipped cream which had also been provided. Gakupo had poked the cake curiously at first and then he had actually taken a bite. He savored his first bites slowly at first and then he ate the dessert with such relish that it was shocking. It was like he had never tasted chocolate or whipped cream or even strawberries.

Luka couldn't help but to enjoy his discovery of the food along with him. He beamed at her and it spread somewhat infectiously. Suddenly, an idea struck her mind.

"Would you like to see the capitol?" He stopped to swallow a strawberry and then looked at her in question. "Have you ever seen the capitol of this kingdom?" He shook his head. He didn't even know what kingdom it was. As far as he was concerned, this was where she was and therefore it was the only place on land that he really cared to be.

He gestured to her as if to ask if she would be with him. "Are you asking if I would come with you?" Gakupo nodded. She pulled one of the strands of hair which refused to be bound by her bun behind her ear. "Well, it wouldn't _really_ be proper… I was just thinking that maybe, since you and Greg get along so well, that you two could go…" Luka looked at him, and he looked at her with the biggest puppy dog eyes she'd ever seen.

Shaking her head, she smiled in exasperation. "If I go, will you stop looking at me like that?" He smirked and nodded. Sighing, she grinned at him. "Alright. I'll go."

Inwardly, the merman clapped himself on the back for successfully getting her to come along. In fact, inwardly he was crowing and doing a silly victory dance which involved a lot of twirling and tossing of confetti – something which he'd seen in a few human parades which had passed by the sea.

Luka looked out the windows and saw the sun had now been gone for quite a while, which meant it was time for her to leave before her father had another conniption fit over the impropriety of her being in a room with a man so late. She stood and he quickly stood too, although it was clearly nothing more than a "monkey see monkey do" action, Gakupo, in this case, being the monkey. Albeit, a very charming monkey, but a monkey nonetheless.

"It's late, I should go… Greg will arrive soon to help you back to your room." He nodded, and she began to leave. But before she did so he caught her arm, dipped into a graceful bow and kissed her hand gently. She stood there staring at him in surprise. That was a very courtly move… how the hell could he be able to know that and not know how to write?

But more important, in that moment, was the gentle look on his face when he glanced back at her. His lips had been very soft on her hand, almost like when a butterfly lands on you. A steady pink travelled across her face. 'Good night,' he mouthed as he straightened slowly.

"Ah…" she was at a loss for words. "G-goodnight. Gakupo. See you tomorrow." She hurried out.

Gakupo settled back own into a chair – it was much easier when one didn't also have to scoot in close to the table – and smiled. The night had been the best of his entire life, and the warm, happy feeling in his chest confirmed it.

He couldn't wait for tomorrow.

* * *

**I think I might have died a little writing this chapter.**

**With the intense amount of AWKWARD and stuff... O.O**

**But hey. ^^"  
**


	9. Bad News

Morning came, but the former merman just kept sleeping. He rolled over and groaned. The sun shone directly in his eyes, and he attempted to cover them with an arm. As he moved, he felt the muscles shift and he suddenly felt an uncomfortable ache in his back. Sitting up, Gakupo stretched in an attempt to get the bothersome ache to go away.

It was odd – as a merman he'd never had an ache in his life, although he'd certainly heard his father complaining about how he was aching.

Surely being human wasn't making Gakupo _old_… was it?

Pulling his hair around, he did a quick search for graying hairs and was pleased to see that it was still a consistent vibrant violet. Absent-mindedly he stroked his hair and thought about last night. A smile slowly crept across his face, and a giddy feeling arose in his throat. Surely this was the human word 'happy', for he probably could have jumped for joy and done another few laps around his room again.

He was going to be adventuring in the human city with Luka! Surely, this was destined to be the greatest day that he'd ever had… well… ever. A childlike impatience filled him. When would they be leaving? But he quickly reined those emotions in. Luka was probably still waking up, and they were to leave later that day.

Although the impatience was suppressed, a slight panic rose steadily over the excitement that the day posed. He only had three days, and one was already gone. Every hour counted and if he didn't win her heart…

The negative chain of thoughts was quickly shut down. _If you act like a panicked maniac, she won't want to be with you. Calm down._ It was rare that Gakupo possessed the self-control to calm his normally erratic and expressive emotions. However, Luka inspired many things that up until now people didn't believe were possible of the slightly over-dramatic prince.

He smiled to himself, and glanced around the room. Breakfast and clothes. Slowly, but surely he slipped things on. _Buttons go in these slits. Belt goes through these loops. Buckle…_ he struggled to remember the exact mechanics and then continued the rest of the action. Thank goodness Greg had been so explicit with his instructions. It was a mental exercise for him. Why must human clothes be so accursedly difficult? Gakupo still wasn't entirely certain what the point was.

At least breakfast was something he understood… although he ate it all the while with the expectation of seeing Greg walking through the door _any second_ to lead him to meet Luka.

* * *

Luka, in fact, was not still waking up. She'd been up for a long time.

Her thoughts had kept her tangled up that night. Every time that she laid down and told herself that all was in order, the memory of him kissing her hand bubbled up and her stomach squirmed uncomfortably yet again and then she had to spend another thirty minutes calming herself down.

Up and down. Up and down. All night long until at last exhaustion had carried her away on its wings and she'd fallen into a blissfully deep sleep.

She awoke early the next morning and headed down to the beach. Although exhausted by the previous night, Luka needed time to think about… the squirmy feeling. It got worse every time that she thought about the kiss. The look in his eyes when he had fallen on her… the memory was shoved away as fast as she could, but once again the squirmy feeling bubbled up and worked its way into her throat where it formed a lump.

Was she going to be this anxious every single time that she thought of Gakupo? Honestly, it was going to drive her mad soon. _Stop stop stop stop stop! _Her mind cried out as she attempted to shove the annoyingly unfamiliar feeling away.

Unfortunately, it was quite persistent, and stalked her all the way down to her beach.

_Thankfully, there is no naked man for me to find today,_ she thought, chuckling to herself. Perching herself on the rock, she began to talk to the ocean. It was silly, but for some reason she felt like it had listened… today the feeling was gone.

It was strange. For a while she'd just thought she was crazy when she felt like someone was watching her and listening. On a few occasions, she'd even thought she'd _heard_ things. The first time it was a laugh. The second time was a song.

"Perhaps I really am crazy," she mumbled, looking at the water as it touched the sand gently. Even if she was insane, it was nice to feel as though she could talk to someone who wouldn't judge her. Today this was abnormally ineffective. Without her listener it almost seemed pointless to talk about how Gakupo made her feel.

Sighing, she turned to leave and found her mother and father climbing over the rocks towards her.

It took a few moments for her to compute that they were here. Honestly, it was rare that you saw the queen out of her gowns and the king in an outfit that he was willing to ruin by climbing over rocks. But there they were, doing so.

"M-mother? Why are you here?" Luka queried. The queen laughed as she approached her daughter.

"Do you believe that your father and I are ignorant as to where you go in the mornings?"

The king followed this up by saying, "No, love, she believes we are too old to manage climbing over these precarious rocks." He leaned towards her and said lovingly, "Naturally, she is quite wrong about you." Her parents unending cheer made her smile and she managed to forget Gakupo because of their comforting banter.

"I didn't even think you knew of this part of the beach." Her parents smiled at each other.

"Remember how we met, love?" The king asked, a mischievous glint in his eye. Her mother laughed.

"I do. All too well. You were here, on this very beach, looking quite contemplative and brooding, when I came swimming around splashing like a fish in nothing but my shift." Luka tried to formulate an image of her mother not wearing 'proper' garb. Or, for that matter, swimming.

"You and I were engaged, and I didn't know that it was you I was to be engaged to."

"Hence the rebellious look on your face whilst you were thinking," the queen inserted, with a chuckled. "I remember how surprised we both were when our parents introduced us."

"I knew we were meant for each other the moment I first set eyes on you." This naturally earned him a kiss, and Luka rolled her eyes at the pair of them.

Although it warmed Luka's heart to hear of their first meeting, she did have to wonder why they were here. "Mother, father… why are you here? Really. You didn't climb over (her voice dropped to a mock male voice here) 'those precarious rocks' to talk about your fond memories of this place."

Her parents glanced at each other, and the smiles slid slowly off their faces. Luka backed up a little, and unconsciously widened her stance as if bracing herself to be hit by a mighty force. Something was going on, and they'd been trying to soften it for her with the light conversation.

"Well, Luka…" her mother looked unsure as to how she should proceed with the conversation. She looked at her husband for support, and he was equally unhelpful.

Luka sighed inwardly in exasperation. What was it that they were going to tell her? "Please, just tell me," she said, somewhat pleadingly. Their unwillingness to tell her made her more worried about what the news was. "Someone hasn't died, right?" She wasn't sure she could handle going to yet another string of funerals. The ones that she had attended after the shipwreck had been painful enough.

Her parents hastily shook their heads. "Oh no, honey," he mother reassured her, and took her arm and her hand so that she could pat it. The two women looked remarkably alike when put next to each other – their hair color matched and they had very similar facial structures. The only two differences lay in Luka's hair – which was wavy where her mother's was curly – and her eyes, which were clearly an exact match to her fathers. Those eyes now held a particularly concerned look in them. If it wasn't someone's death, then why was her mother calling her 'honey'? That was something she hadn't heard in a while.

Slowly, her mother's face became resolute, and she said, "Luka, there comes a time in every princesses life when she has to start filling the role of princess more fully." Luka wondered where this was going, but she waited patiently for her mother to explain. "One such role is… marrying the proper man." Luka's heart sunk, and she pulled away from her mother.

"No…" she breathed her eyes widening. "You can't be… marrying me off!" she exclaimed, back pedaling away from the pair in disbelief.

"I told you she'd take it badly," the queen stated to her husband, giving Luka a sympathetic look out of the corner of her eye. "Must we really force all this on her right now, dear?" The king sighed, and nodded firmly.

"I feel that this is the right thing to do. For her," he responded, gesturing towards Luka pointedly. The man looked at his daughter. "When you were born, our dear neighbor, Veranim, came to us with a proposal. They had a son two years older than you, and they said that they would be overjoyed to see our two kingdoms united by a marriage." Luka was having a hard time digesting all of this.

"So… I'm… engaged." She said slowly. He nodded solemnly.

"To Prince Kaito. Yes." Luka knew of the blue-haired prince, although she had certainly never actually met him. Her emotions went cold, and she icily looked at the pair of them.

"How could you keep this from me all this time?" Luka demanded. "I've never even met him. Didn't you think that I might like to know this man who you've given me to?" She felt abused, like a fancy souvenir of her country which was nothing more than a show piece that could be handed off from person to person to be admired. Anger rose like bile in her throat. At this point, she debated doing many things. She thought of crying, she thought of storming off in an angst-ridden huff.

Instead, she just stood there, shaking in her fury and biting back the furious tears which pricked at her eyes.

"You will meet him," her mother said gently. "That's why we're telling you today. We will be hosting a ball tonight, and he will be attending. The next day, we've planned a ship to leave with you and several hundred guests at noon. It will be your engagement party."

Luka looked at the two of them in disbelief, and attempted to form words that would not force her to yell at her parents. They did not come. So she turned to leave them.

"Where are you going, young woman," her father said, tone harsh. Luka glanced back at him.

"I need to think about all of this. I'm suddenly being told – all in one short conversation, mind you! – that I am meeting and having an engagement party with a man who I've only heard about in the span two days." She strode off.

Her father persisted her still, though, and she heard him crying out, "You had better not be going off with that purple-haired imbecile!" That was _exactly_ where she was going. Their little announcement would not throw off the rest of her day. She waved to her parents, and ignored her father – who was blustering yet again – while her mother attempted to calm him.

Quite frankly, she was too annoyed with the both of them to really care.

Her annoyance held, even once she'd finally found Greg and Gakupo. The small, topless carriage that the two of them would ride in to town was already ready. Gakupo sat inside, scanning the area. _Where is Luka?_ he thought. They should have met a while ago – Greg had said so.

The look on his face read clearly as both impatience and worry. But both of those emotions were gone the moment he laid his eyes on her approaching form. A bright smile cracked his face.

Unfortunately she was far too busy brooding for his happiness to infect her. Her deep anger blackened the mood, and he frowned at her as she settled into the tiny carriage. He could sense her disturbance all too palpably.

"Shall we leave, your majesty?" Greg asked politely.

"Yes," Luka snapped, and then she sighed. "Please. I'm sorry, Greg." Perhaps it was the 'your majesty' which set her off. As of that moment, she would have sold her soul to be anyone _other_ than the princess of the land. She just wanted to be Luka to someone. Her parents apparently thought it appropriate to give her away at a moment's notice, just because of her status in life.

A hand touched her shoulder, and she sharply glanced at the person to whom that hand belonged. She was just grouchy enough that touch nearly sent her over the edge.

But her anger was met with the unassuming simplicity that was Gakupo's confusion and worry. He wanted to know what was wrong and to comfort her, if he could. That much was all quite clear in his demeanor. He didn't appear worried about any reproach from the princess. He was unconcerned by the fact that her royal status meant that he shouldn't be in her presence. All he saw was Luka, who seemed upset and needed comfort.

The princess blinked, totally unsure how to handle this foreign comfort that arose from this thought. No, it was more than comfort… it was… something else. It was the little bit of extra emotion which made her break down. Promptly, her face was buried in his chest and she began to sob.

Gakupo sat there, unsure of how humans dealt with crying people. What if the rules were different from the ones in the sea? He was still for a few seconds, but it proved too much not to do anything. Slowly, he wrapped his arms around her, and hugged her tightly before placing his head on top of hers. He wished that, for those few moments, he'd had the ability to talk so that he could do more to comfort her.

* * *

**Poor Kaito... being dragged into this confusing business. ^^"**

**Really, I'm using him as a fancy prop. **

**(Doesn't mean that I'm not a raving KaitoxMeiko fan... XD)  
**


	10. Cows, and Other Cute Things

Luka cried until her tears were completely spent. During which, Greg had thought to start driving away from the palace. She was grateful for that. The princess felt as though she could trust Greg to be quiet about her emotional issues. Unfortunately, she couldn't say the same for the rest of the castle staff.

Word spread quickly in the castle kitchens and amongst maids. The tiniest actions could be read into, and there was no question in Luka's mind that her crying on some unknown man would have sparked rumors like a wildfire.

Even as she stopped crying, she was almost too comfortable. His arms felt right around her, and somehow the slight pressure of his head resting on top of hers soothed her even more. It would be so easy to just stay right there for the rest of the time… _I've known him for barely over a day. I shouldn't be like this._ She scolded herself and pulled away.

Rigidly, she wiped her tears away and composed herself. Any emotion regarding the engagement was washed away in her tears. Her eyes slid over to Gakupo's shirt, which now had a large wet spot on it where those tears had fallen. _How embarrassing. _She thought, feeling somewhat abashed about having left such a mark on him.

Gakupo reached down, and plucked at the spot. She'd cried… a lot. It felt weird to have a large dark splotch on his clothing… he wondered if it would go away. Not that it really mattered. His eyes strayed up to the princess who finally seemed to be calm. What had made her so upset? In an attempt to express this question, he tugged at his shirt and furrowed his brow as he looked at her.

He watched her own eyebrows knit as she attempted to figure out his meaning. Even as she floundered to understand, he once again felt a little stab of irritation at his inability to speak. It was irksome that he couldn't express what he felt. Gakupo felt as though he couldn't do much of anything for her – he couldn't comfort her, couldn't have a conversation or even ask simple questions… he couldn't even say how he felt! That killed him a little inside. But she was quick to pick up.

"You… want to know why I cried?" He gave one short, definite nod. At least she was intelligent enough to understand. Gakupo would have been horrible at understanding the pantomimes if their roles were to be reversed. Luka looked into his eyes and bit her lip.

Could she tell him? Part of her wanted to say that it was nothing. That she was just being silly and that really there was nothing to worry about. The princess looked down at her lap where her hands rested. She played with them nervously, wondering what to say and how to say it.

A larger hand reached into her lap and stopped her from rubbing her hands apart. She looked up and there he was, smiling at her. She could tell that his meaning was she didn't have to say if she didn't want to.

But then a bitter part of Luka said that it shouldn't matter. It wasn't as if they were romantically involved. This wouldn't affect their relationship at all. With this in mind, Luka resolved to tell him.

If this wouldn't do anything, why did she feel so guilty? Why did she feel as though telling him would hurt him?

Taking a deep breath, she said, "My parents have engaged me to be married."

Gakupo's eyes widened in shock. Suddenly his world shrunk and he was completely lost. What… Luka was… he almost couldn't comprehend the words. Honestly, he didn't _want_ to comprehend those words. He wished with all his heart she would deny those words and she would laugh about it and say that he should have seen the look on his face…

Luka did no such thing. Sadly, he looked to the side, and then he took a deep breath. He had one more question to ask, but he feared that the answer might kill him. But it needed to be asked…

Slowly, Gakupo tapped the spot over his heart, and tilted his head in question.

She looked at him, and tried to figure out his meaning. "Heart?" He shook his head, and tapped the air over her heart. Luka didn't even think about how awkward that was, but tried to focus instead on him. Again Gakupo's eyes held that unfathomable sadness, and a part of Luka was panicking over it. Why was he so sad suddenly?

"My heart!" she guessed hastily, and he gestured that she continue down that thought process. She thought hard and then asked, "My love?" He nodded and gestured for her to keep going. "Are you… asking if I love this man that I'm engaged to?" The purple-haired man nodded solemnly. Her blue eyes glared angrily out of the carriage.

"I don't know him. I can't love him." Her jaw hardened and her throat tightened again. But she refused to cry again.

For a moment Gakupo could have jumped for joy. There was one less issue. Yes, she had to get married, and that disturbed him, but at least she didn't love him. He was quick to notice her anger, and tapped her shoulder and tried to look as sympathetic as he could muster. It wasn't alright that her parents had forced this upon her.

Luka gave him a tiny smile, and he smiled back. _Cheer up, please,_ he thought to her, beaming at her. This seemed to work, for a smile spread across her own face.

"So… where to, Princess?" Greg inquired. The man had had enough experience with people to know when it was time to interject something into a conversation.

The princess quickly took a deep breath, sat up straighter, and said, "Why don't you take us right into town and drop us off? I'm sure that Gakupo and I can find something to do." She turned to grin at the man sitting next to her who was now distracted looking at the cows along the side of the road. When one of them mooed at him, he beamed, and then looked back at Luka. The excitement in his eyes made her laugh as he pointed wildly at the animals.

Where had this man lived? She wondered how he had missed what _cows_ were. "They're cows. We use them to get milk, which is something that we drink." He nodded as if fascinated and then made a drinking motion.

She laughed. "I'm sure I could find a way to get you some milk." He beamed at her in unadulterated joy and leaned out the carriage again to look at the bovines yet again. Luka smiled at him. There was something so infectious about his fascination with everything that she showed him…

The carriage stopped for a few moments behind a wagon that was unloading hay. Meanwhile, she watched as Gakupo tilted his head at the animals. Currently, he looked right in the face of a cow that was chewing away at some grass. He inspected it curiously until they drove away and then he turned his attention to Luka.

Mimicking the slow chewing of the cow, he made funny face and Luka couldn't help but to laugh. Gakupo grinned at her. He was pleased that he'd at last managed to make her laugh – she was beautiful when she laughed. A crying or upset Luka bothered him more than he could say – literally.

Gakupo tried to focus on her as they approached town, but there were so many interesting human things all around… he simply couldn't take his eyes off it all. A tiny thought wedged its way into his mind – perhaps he should be focusing on sweeping Luka off her feet. At this point she probably thought of him as a silent clown…

Somehow this was okay with Gakupo. He'd rather be anything to her – a clown, a mute, or even a footstool. As long as she put her feet on him and he made her smile, it didn't matter. It was wonderful being _near_ her for once. He would trade away his whole childhood for this day with her, sitting in a carriage looking at new sights with her smiling and enjoying herself.

That was something he noticed. She relaxed more as they left the castle, and she actually was smiling. At him. His heart did a little _flip-flop_ inside his chest, and he gave her the tiniest, most tender smile that he'd ever given anyone.

Yes, this was fine. She was happy, and all was bliss. Gakupo watched her for a little longer, his heart thudding in bizarre patterns in his chest.

Once they were just a little outside town, Luka called for Greg to stop the carriage. She pulled Gakupo out behind her, and then grinned at him. She couldn't believe how excited she actually was by the idea of being someone other than Princess Luka for a while. "Greg! We'll meet you here by sunset, alright?" The servant nodded and they drove off.

Meanwhile, Luka pulled a wig of dark hair out of her vest and pulled it over her bun. She'd gone incognito into town a couple times before. It was much easier than appearing as the princess. When Gakupo gave her his questioning look, she explained this to him.

The purple-haired man grimaced. He could understand not wanting all the attention that came with royalty. That had been one of the many factors that had kept him visiting the surface. It was strange, however, to see Luka without her pink hair.

He had to look a few times before he got used to it. It was quite a good wig. But he just liked Luka was way she was, not in a disguise. If this was what made her happy, though, he was still willing to sacrifice his own personal preference for that. He gestured to see if they were to go anywhere and Luka nodded before pulling him into the town.

* * *

**That's what I've decided this chapter is - the FLUFFY CHAPTER OF DOOM.**

**But it's REALLY cute. Or at least I think so. .  
**


	11. Simple Gifts

Gakupo and Luka wandered into town. She had taken him by the elbow and dragged him along behind her, and he was all too eager to follow her wherever she wanted to go.

The man was determined not to think too much upon the news which she had delivered. He was forcing himself to push aside the thoughts of his own impending doom if he did not reach her heart. It was his second day on land, and time was running short. The prince told himself not to dwell much upon the possibility that this _other_ prince – he couldn't help but to think upon whomever it was with just a little contempt – might win Luka's heart.

That thought really made him freeze.

What would he do if she loved this other man? His throat tightened, and he told himself that he would not be mad at her if this man she was engaged to made her happy. Whatever made Luka happy was what made Gakupo happy…

But the words were hard to think so he brushed them aside. He allowed his world to revolve around Luka and how happy she seemed to be about sharing her little town with him.

The princess first led him into a little store, where she promptly bought some of this white-liquid stuff. It was the color of a pearl, but less iridescent. He wondered what it was, but was certain that Luka was going to explain it to him. So he waited patiently while Luka purchased the items from the ruddy shop-keeper and then brought them back to him.

He was led outside, and sat down on a bench in the middle of a city square of some kind. Luka perched herself next to him, and placed her purchase on the bench next to her. First, she popped the cap off the little bottle of milk. "See this?" she asked, and he nodded, smirking and looking at her questioningly. 'Well, _of course_ I can see,' his face read.

She chuckled lightly, and smacked herself lightly on the forehead. "Of course." Luka kicked herself mentally, a flushed slightly out of embarrassment. Just because he was mute didn't mean that he couldn't see. Although he was pretty simple at times, she didn't need to treat him like a little kid. Why was she suddenly getting so giddy? The woman swallowed and composed herself before she continued.

"This is milk. Comes from the cows." The man's eyes widened comically, and then he began to gesture wildly. Luka held out a hand, wanting to explain before he had a chance to ask any questions. Gakupo stopped and stared at her intently. "They milk the cows from things on their belly called udders." She placed fingers on her own belly, and wiggled them. "Normally, their babies would eat the milk, but we also take some so we can drink it."

Purple eyes wide, he nodded solemnly. Cows surely were fascinating and kind creatures to share that which they normally gave to their children. He became so caught up in wondering what it was like to be a cow for a few moments that he nearly missed Luka's follow up question, "Now, would you like to try some?" Gakupo nodded, and she grinned, holding out the bottle. He took it, and clutched in his hands, swirling the liquid in it, inspecting it for any secrets it might hold. Luka smiled quickly and then covered it with her hand at this display.

Honestly, his curiosity was both fascinating and slightly endearing to the princess.

Somewhat reverently, the man took a sip of the milk and then once he pulled the bottle away, he beamed at Luka. _Milk is delicious!_ Gakupo thought. Suddenly, Luka burst out in a wild fit of giggles and collapsed on the cobbled square, and Gakupo watched her in confusion.

Placing the bottle down on the bench, he leaned over, and gestured in question with great zest. What was so funny? This seemed to only make her laugh harder, and make tears began to fall out of her eyes.

Which sent Gakupo into a momentary panic. Why was he making Luka cry? But she was laughing too… What had he done? Since his gesturing seemed to only make her laugh-cry harder, he sat there on the ground, looking at her in puzzlement and waiting for her to calm down.

As she began to regain the ability to breathe normally, Luka said – in between gasps – "Milk… moustache… too… funny…" The words sent her into another mini spasm of laughter, and Gakupo's confused frown merely deepened.

Taking a deep breath, Luka balanced herself on the bench and tried to think of a way to explain a milk moustache… so she grabbed the bottle of milk, took a deep sip from the other side, and grinned at Gakupo.

Who promptly pointed and beamed. It would have been a laugh, but no sound came from his lips. However, he scooted close to the girl and poked her now white upper lip. His finger came away wet. This excited him, and he leaned in close to her lips and began to poke the spot again and again, gently so as to not hurt Luka. He was determined to figure out how the white could go away…

Luka's eyes watched him as he poked her lip, seemingly oblivious of how many of the towns folk were staring at him _and_ how awkward that this was for her. The odd part was that he clearly had _no _ulterior motives, unlike many men whom she'd seen with other girls. Gakupo was honestly and truly trying to understand the milk moustache. She grinned, and looked impatiently to the side.

It was when she smiled that he had to pause. Her lips really were beautiful – milk moustache over them or not. But some idiot part of his brain poked them once more instead of kissing them like a real man ought to. At this, Luka pushed his face away, and held out a finger to tell him to watch. She licked her lip once with her tongue and the moustache disappeared.

Gakupo's eyes widened, and he nodded sagely. Milk had the power to stick to people's upper lip, but you could make it un-stick itself with your tongue. He followed her example, and then looked at her for approval. She nodded, and he beamed.

He stood up unsteadily, and then held out a hand for her to take. Luka reached for the hand, and then mentally something screamed for her to stop. As a princess, taking someone's hand meant something more, and generally it left you in a mess.

However no one but she and Gakupo knew that she was a princess here. The hesitation was momentary and she took his hand. His grip was firm, and he confidently pulled her to her feet. For a moment, she wondered if she was going to fall into his arms like he had fallen into hers, but her balance was quite good.

Then an odd thought popped into her head. Would she have minded having such a romantic moment with Gakupo? Her imagination was quick to run away with the thought. His strong arms wrapping around hers as he caught her and…

The girl was quick to get _those_ thoughts out of her head. They were totally ridiculous. She and Gakupo were _really_ just friends. Surely he couldn't mean that much to her and she couldn't mean that much to him. They'd known each other for a _day and a half._

Gakupo smiled at her, and gestured to the bottle and then made a drinking motion. She assumed that he was asking her if he could drink the rest of it and she nodded once. The man quickly did so, and made a face which implied that he found it thoroughly satisfying. He beamed at her as if to say thank you.

_His movements and expressions mean so much more than those of most peoples', _Luka thought. It was fascinating how much he could express himself since he didn't have the power of speech. _Still,_ Luka continued mentally, _I wonder how often he gets frustrated because he can't say all that he means._ She felt a tight knot of pity well up inside her and was determined that she would do her best to make this a good day for him.

Luka held out a hand, and gestured to the bottle. Gakupo compliantly handed it to her and she nodded to him. "I'll be right back. Stay right here." He did as he was told, and when she returned they continued to adventure.

The day went on like this; Luka would present something to Gakupo, he would marvel over it and then they would move on to the next thing. She was increasingly surprised by how much the man _didn't _know. All the same, it was a delight to watch him see things for the first time. It was like introducing a child to the world, and Gakupo was so honest about how little he knew that it wasn't like she was struggling to introduce it to someone who assumed they already knew everything.

He knew that he was ignorant, and she was all too happy to be the one to watch him discover things.

At the very end of the day, Gakupo sat on yet another bench looking out at the ocean. It was not quite sunset yet, but the sun was getting steadily lower. At the time, he was alone because Luka had gone off to find something called a 'kite' that they could fly on the beach because it was _just_ windy enough. Needless to say, he was excited about it.

The purple-haired man swayed in his seat as he waited. He was lost in thought. He wished there were a way for him to thank Luka for her gift of the day. Surely this had been one of his best. He'd never smiled so much before… and her smile had been all the more worth it. His eyes surveyed the area until he noticed the flowers.

He'd seen a couple men present flowers to women on board the boats that sailed about… he knew because he'd been searching those boats for Luka. He assumed they were flowers, because they had the same shape. Looking at them, he spotted a pretty purple one that he thought Luka might like. Somehow, he also thought that it might complement her hair nicely.

He bent down, and roughly pulled the plant out of the ground, roots and all. Feeling quite proud of himself – although slightly confused by the way the plant was dripping dirt – he prepared to present the flowers to her and hid the one flower behind his back.

As Luka approached, kite in hand, she smiled questioningly at him. Why did he look like he were a cat that had gotten the cream? "What did you do?" In response he beamed at her, and then got on one knee (as he had seen the men on the ships do) and held his ragged, rooted plant out to her.

It was clear to the woman that this was a thank you, and although it was a less-than-orthodox gift, it made her smile. There was something so charming about the lone flower – a tulip, she believed – with its leaves, roots, and dirt dangling from its mangled stem. Her eyes wandered until she caught a hole that marred the ground a few feet away, and this made her smile turn up even more in amusement.

Somehow, though, this was one of the sweetest gifts that she'd ever gotten, so she put her kite down on the bench to receive it. Gently, she broke the flower's stem and sniffed it daintily. "I love it, Gakupo," she said gently. It was at that moment – with her frame surrounded by the vibrant sun with the backdrop of the ocean saying those words… Gakupo felt his heart stop and he wished that time would stop so that he could see her like this…

But one thing was missing.

He stood speedily and didn't stumble or anything. As he stood, he took the time to look for others on the beach. No one was there. Gakupo knew what he wanted to make the moment – his second day – perfect.

Gently, he slipped the dark wig off her head and managed to remove the clip that held her hair up at the same time. Suddenly, the pink tresses danced in her face and played in the light wind. Before she could so much as react, he calmly brushed her hair out of her face, plucked the flower from her hands, and tucked it tenderly behind her ear and his hand lingered beside her face.

The world paused around the pair of them. The wind blew around them, but not harshly, and the waves crashed their approval softly. The sun created the perfect tinged sky, explosive in color. But neither noticed the perfection of their surroundings. It was just them and the moment.

It could not be said how long they stood there, barely using the oxygen in their space, contemplating what to do with each other, what this could mean. But it can be said that Greg broke the moment when he called to them.

"Princess! Princess Luka we must get you to the castle! Your parents will be furious if you are late for the ball!" She moved quickly, eyes widening in shock. Even if she was against the marriage, she could not bring herself to upset her parents for the world. Grabbing the kite, she rushed to the carriage.

Gakupo moved at a much slower pace, watching her run for a little before following at a slower pace. He was so… melancholy. Part of him was beyond euphoric. Beyond anything, really. She was so beautiful. So beautiful. And he counted himself lucky to have had her for this one day, all to himself. She now had to go be a princess… and he was saddened by that. Even if this ball was his undoing, he would forever remember this moment.

He followed her to the carriage at a jog. He would hate to make her late.

As Gakupo followed her to the carriage, Luka bit her lip and blushed a little as she fingered the precious purple flower that was now perched behind her ear.

* * *

**Okay. In my mind, this is now one of MY personal favorite chapters to write, and, well, it's the MEGA D'AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW chapter.**

**I know, because that's actually what I named the file. XD  
**


	12. Ball Gowns Be Damned

They arrived at the castle in silence, and the moment the princess arrived, the staff was hasty to whisk her away and prepare her for the coming ball. And, Luka reflected, she really was whisked away.

Her head turned back to glance at Gakupo, who watched her go with a desperation in his eyes that broke her heart a little. The man just looked so sad. His beautiful, expressive purple eyes seemed to follow her like a guilty conscience into her room. It was unfair to him, that she should be bound to this event. She would have rather stayed at the beach than go to the damned ball.

The thought made her stomach clench. A ball where she would meet her… fiancée. It was strange to think, that within a few short days she would probably be married to a complete and utter stranger.

Her thoughts kept her occupied while the servants went to work on her appearance. She must be perfect for the ball, after all. The woman was practically shoved into a bubble filled tub, and she sat there silently, soaking in the comforting heat. It helped her relax, and her thoughts turned more pleasantly to the afternoon she'd spent with Gakupo.

Smiling to herself, she kicked a leg up and giggled childishly at the memory of some of his more foolish moments. Honestly, how she had managed to find the most clueless man on the planet naked on her beach, she'd never know.

But for some reason his moments of idiocy didn't bother her. They made her laugh, and blush, and a warm, foreign ticklish feeling rose in her stomach. Dipping into the bubbles and the water, she blew into the water to let go of the giddiness that those thoughts brought her. It was better that the servants didn't ask her why she was giggling like a four-year-old who was planning mischief.

Why was she acting like such a bubbly fool? This was uncommon, seeing as she was normally fairly reserved. It was something about this strange man with the purple hair… he made her feel alive. He made her feel lighter than air. And why? She'd known him for what, a couple days? Less than that?

Luka had to admit that it was a bit foolish… but she still snapped at the first maid who tried to pull that ragged flower out of her hair and throw it away. The princess ordered that the precious flower be put into a vase on her bedside table. She decided to ignore the raised eyebrow on the woman's face, and continued to enjoy the bath.

They washed her hair until her scalp ached, and then pulled her out of the water and pulled her into a tight dress that was undeniably the finest that her parents could have given her.

The bodice was made of fine, sky blue fabric, and dotted with beautiful little Opalsque beads. A pretty little blue sapphire – surrounded by more of the metal - laid between her breasts on the front, and more of her country's precious metal had been used to make an intricate design around the bottom of the bodice. The elbow-length sleeves with slits on the sides hung loosely around her arms and fluttered gently when she moved. At the beginning of each of those sleeves, an intricate Opalsque bead sat, trailing more beads made of the metal.

Opalsque was rare. The metal was pearly

The gown itself was made of royal purple silk, dotted lightly with pearls, opening to reveal more sky blue and edged with lace at the bottom. The bustle on the back was made of a purple and white lacey fabric. Overall, the weighed a ton, and probably cost more than most of her subjects made in their whole life.

It made Luka ill.

The dress was a harsh reminder of how much her parents were investing into the match. They wanted her to join in matrimony with this prince. It stung a little that they weren't going to let her go where her heart lead her. Or at least wait for her heart to lead her somewhere.

A momentary flash of Gakupo appeared in her mind's eye, as he looked down at her with a tender expression on his face that said he was willing to give her the world and more, and she actually felt the gentle touch of his hand against her cheek.

Guilt followed the sweet memory. With that dress on, she wondered how she could ever betray her parents in this way. To possibly care for… she wouldn't let herself say it. Luka felt torn – was she to listen to her head and the duty to her parents… or did she listen to her heart that seemed to be pulling her towards the quiet purple-haired man who treated her with such care.

Biting her lip, her tumultuous thoughts helped her ignore the pain that was usually involved with her maid brushing her hair to perfection and pulling it into a gorgeous styling. She saw the maid pulling out more beads to string into her hair, and the stunning Opalsque clip – the most "girly" thing that Luka would wear without being forced – to put her hair up into a loose bun thing. She felt her hair rippling over her shoulders, and felt far too… princess-ey.

It was unquestionable that she was going to be the center of attention at the ball tonight. Most girls would be thrilled to be pampered like she was… but Luka wanted to be anyone other than a princess.

Ring and bracer-like bracelets made of the same shimmering metal were slid onto her fingers and wrists. She stared at the swirled metal-work, and the way the metal shone like a pearl, scattering rainbows when put into the light. As she stared, a similarly wrought necklace with a large sapphire that hung just slightly into her cleavage was clamped around her neck whilst earrings were slid into her ears. It was all Opalsque, all stunning… and yet Luka felt a little suffocated by its grandeur.

With just a touch of blue-ish mascara and a little bit of blush, her maid backed away, bowed and scurried out of the room. Luka would wait until her escort was there to put her shoes on. She glared at the glass high heels. Whoever had thought those up really should be forced to wear them for a few hours themselves.

Silence surrounded Luka, and she finally dared to look at herself it the mirror. The girl who stared back was… a princess. This was not a girl who climbed on rocks, or screamed her problems at the sea. This was not a girl who could ever set foot on a boat with confidence, or help a naked man on a beach.

This girl was not Luka. But this was Luka for tonight. The pink-haired princess turned away in disgust from the mirror, feeling cornered. Any moment now, a well-dressed steward would come a sweep her away to the ball and to this Prince Kaito, who was undoubtedly a prick.

It was not far from Luka's mind to tear of the dress, rip the Opalsque out of her hair, and climb out a window once she had gotten into traveling clothes.

Unfortunately, she heard a knock at the door. She stared at it, feeling terrified. Feeling angry. Feeling nervous. _It's just a ball, Luka,_ she chided herself. Mustering her courage, she opened the door trying to look as regal as possible. She hoped that the steward on the other side would at least be Greg, whom she could tolerate. Maybe he could even tell her how Gakupo was doing…

But on the other side was not a steward. The King stared down at his daughter, and immediately Luka scowled at him. "Dad," she said, crossing her arms, "What are you doing here?" The King sighed, and looked at his daughter, pleadingly.

"Luka, please. Not now." He bit his lip, looking sheepish. "May I come in? I need to talk to you." For a moment, she considered saying no, but he was still her father. With a grimace, she stood aside to let him in. As he entered, she noted he carried a beautiful ebony box, and wondered what it contained.

Once inside, she opened her mouth to try and convince him that this was cruel and unusual. Her father held out a hand to hush her as her settled on her bed. "Luka… I know you don't like me right now. I know that you're furious about this arranged marriage. I understand. I was once there too." He looked into his lap, as he set the box down at his side.

Luka scowled at him, but she let him keep going. "But I need you to go through with this… Understand, your mother and I wouldn't have, but Prince Kaito's kingdom has wealth and power. Unfortunately, the Opalsque industry isn't doing as well as it has in the past. We're hoping that this match will save our kingdom…" The King looked up at his daughter, and Luka noticed that he looked exhausted and old.

Concern washed over her, and her scowl disappeared. She quickly sat next to him, and gripped his arm. "Dad… I…"

"Please, Luka. This isn't just about your mother or me or you… it's about the kingdom." He sounded strained, and her brow furrowed as she thought. How could she turn her back on her people? She knew what she wanted, but what about everyone else? Closing her eyes, she swallowed. She was princess, and she would serve her country well.

"Alright, Dad. I'll behave. I'll do this, for you." Her father turned to her, and kissed her on the forehead.

"I love you, Luka. And I'm sorry, but I think you might be able to find happiness with this prince." Luka sighed, and gave him a small smile, even though she was far from happy. "Oh, yes." The older man turned, picking up the box, and placing it in his lap. He opened it slowly, and revealed a beautiful Opalsque tiara. Luka gasped. That was fine Opalsque work, and on top of that, large pieces worked with such careful swirling were hard to make. The King smiled down at it, and then at her.

"This was my mother's tiara. She was given it by my father when they married. Your mother wore it when she married me, and I want you to wear it tonight, for good luck." He picked up the tiara, and lovingly placed it on her head. "Now you truly represent our country."

Luka swallowed. Gods, she was going to cry. She quickly hugged her father, and then turned away so she could wipe her eyes. "Thank you…" she said, softly. The Opalsque items weighed heavily upon her, even if the metal was actually pretty light. _This ball gown, the jewelry… they are a responsibility. I carry it._ Luka thought this, and turned to her father. "Can… you please leave me alone? I want to think a little bit and collect myself before I'm escorted to the ball."

The King nodded, and took her hand in his. Squeezing it reassuringly, he gave her a tiny smile and then left Luka alone.

Now more than ever she was torn. Why did she have to be a princess? It wasn't as if she hadn't loved her life – she adored her parents and being a princess was not bad. But she wished she could choose who she married. That she could run about like the milk maids did in the fields while Luka watched from her carriage. Unfortunately, she was a princess. And she didn't shirk responsibility. Forcing thoughts of Gakupo away, she put on a cold expression, and prepared herself to be engaging and enjoyable during the ball.

Finally, the knock she had been waiting for came. She stood stiffly and moved to open it. Now more than ever she looked regal and composed. She could have carried herself like that all night… had Gakupo not been standing on the other side, with a pleased beam on his face. The beam faded into a wondered expression when Luka appeared at the door. Her expression similarly changed, and they stared at each other.

"I thought you might enjoy having him as an escort, instead of me. Don't worry, I've trained him." Greg said, cheerily, although it was doubtful that either of the two heard him.

* * *

**Okay. Sorry this took SO FRIGGIN' LONG. ^^ But I've been lazy and now I have a whole bunch of ideas that should allow me to finish this before August! *looks triumphant* Anyhow, I just wanted to share that the dress has been drawn by my editor/number one fan/best friend Kirby! **

**Below is the proper link. ^^  
**

**kkbook dot deviantart .com/art/Luka-s-Ballgown-221134127**

**I also felt I should share this lovely bit of commentary Kirby left at the end of the story. It made me lol, and I think it will make you chuckle as well. ^^**

Kirby (My Editor): Btw… GOOD DOGGY GAKU. GOOOOD DOGGGY, WHO'S A GOOD BOY? *Cuddles*

Gakupo: Go away… I'm staring at Luka…

Luka: … I thought you couldn't speak…

Gakupo: I'm out of character, okay?

Luka: Then why are you still staring at me? The chapter's over…

Gakupo: Because you're still beautiful. :3

Luka: *Tries not to blush*

**Sorry for the LONG ramble. ^^  
**


	13. Slippers, Dancing, and Champagne

Gakupo blinked. He didn't like to blink. That would be like taking his eyes off the beauty before him. She seemed to glimmer, and… well there weren't words really for how breathtaking Luka was. He'd been blown away before, but now… there was no other woman for him. Unfortunately, he did have to blink in order for his eyes to stop watering.

That was the one thing he really missed about the water – his eyes had never started stinging because he held them open too long.

It was the blink the broke the moment. Luka had started to blush even then, but she turned away from Gakupo and blushed even more furiously. "I have to go put on my shoes," she mumbled as she scurried towards her shoes. _Gods, is he handsome,_ she thought, brushing back a hair that had fallen loose.

He had been dressed well. He wore a royal purple tail coat, which had been left open to reveal a vest that had been that of a matching purple fabric that was decorated with silvery swirls. He had been put in tight-looking (not that she was _really_ paying attention) white pants, and wore a stylish pair of calf-length leather black boots that had buttons that looked suspiciously like they were made of Opalesque. White lace peeked out of the ends of his coat sleeves, and a lacey white ascot lay at his throat, pinned down by a simple silver pin with a little blue stone in the center. His hair was pulled back into a pony tail, and trailed far lower than hers. She noted he even had pretty white gloves.

Gakupo looked like nobility. And he complemented her completely as far as clothing. Greg had undoubtedly planned that. Her blue eyes snuck a look at the serving man, and he looked far too pleased with himself. Turning her gaze back towards the dreaded foot wear, she reminded herself that she would have to return the favor at a later date.

Grimacing, she bent over and then felt a sharp pain in ribs which forced her to erect herself or break a bone. A little pathetically, she tried to bend to reach for her shoes again, and again could not. The corset was too tight. Cursing mentally, she knelt to grab the heels. Why did she have to make such a fool of herself in front of an audience? Then again, why did she care? Greg wouldn't judge her for it… but for some reason it mattered just a little that Gakupo would see her being silly.

But that shouldn't matter either. He didn't mean anything. And he was a total idiot in front of her all the time. Her thought process became very caught up in making excuses as to why it shouldn't matter that she be silly in front of Gakupo.

This thought process was quickly abandoned so she could focus all her energy on cussing at her shoes. The dress was too big, the corset was too tight and her feet didn't seem to want those glass slippers on, no matter what way she twisted herself. Finally, feeling disgusted, she tossed the shoe aside.

"Greg, get my maid. I'm... having trouble." Luka spat out the final words, feeling useless. Greg nodded and hurried off to do as she bade. Meanwhile, she scowled at her shoes and tried to pretend that she didn't feel Gakupo's questioning eyes on her. It was hard not to look back at him, especially with the sense that he was staring.

Finally, in her irritation she glared up at him. "What?" The pink-haired girl demanded. He smiled at her. Even with an angry expression on her face, he thought she was gorgeous. It also amused him to no end that she was so easily flustered. And this time over a… whatever it was she was trying to get on her foot. It looked much like his own shoes, but it had points on the back of it. They actually looked a little dangerous.

Gesturing towards her, he boldly took a step in. Clearly she needed help to get the clear whatevers on her feet, but she gestured for him to stop. "Gakupo… you…" Luka bit her lip and wondered how to explain that he was doing was considered improper. "Really shouldn't come into my room."

His eyes widened, and he tilted his head a little to the side with a questioning shrug. He didn't understand what the problem was. Honestly, he just wanted to help with her foot-clothing. Humans were so silly.

"It's just that… men shouldn't be in a woman's room." Gakupo frowned. Okay then. He'd been in his sisters' room before… what was the problem? He shrugged again. "Well…" Luka fumbled for a reason. "It's just not done." He continued to look at her as though baffled. With a defeated sigh, Luka said, "Oh, just come in."

With that, he took a few steps forward, and picked up her shoe to inspect it. "Wha-" Luka began to ask, but not before he put a finger to her lips to silence her. The purple-haired man knelt at her feet, shoe in hand, and then slipped the glass slipper on as if it were no trouble at all. Her mouth shut quickly, and she stared down at him.

For the first time, it felt wonderful to feel like a princess. With him gently slipping on her shoes, she felt like Cinderella, getting her prince once he had found her shoe. But this time it was the princess getting help from a handsome, mute man with a huge heart. Quickly the feelings were stuffed in a corner, and she solemnly remembered the conversation she'd had with her father.

She needed to marry Kaito. That was her duty.

It still made her feel girlishly pleased when he slipped the next slipper on and grinned up at her. Standing, he held out both of his hands to help her up. Luka took them, perhaps a little timidly, and he tugged her up. Perhaps he pulled a little _too_ hard, being unaware of his own strength, and she was tugged towards his chest. He caught her in his arms, and she found herself staring into his lips. Blushing, she quickly shoved him away, and then brusquely led him to the door.

No improper time spent in her room. No uncomfortably pleasing moment being close to him. If anyone said anything about it, she'd deny it profusely. The pair stood in the door way, and she looked guiltily around before closing her door shut. With a sigh, she turned to look at her escort, who was looking all too pleased.

But it made her smile a little. "Well, I guess we had better get going. Greg said he had taught you…" Gakupo smartly stuck out his arm and turned to face down the hall. Out of the corner of his eye, he looked at her and gave her smile which said, 'See? I can do this.' Luka hesitated. Okay then, apparently he had been taught. He then smirked and cocked up an eyebrow which read loud and clear, 'Scared of my arm?'

With a sideways glance, she frowned at him and then realized that he was _challenging_ her to take his arm. Well then. She promptly took it, and smiled politely at him. "Oh, don't think I'm scared of your arm, sir. Lead on, Mr. Gakupo." Placing her hand in the crook of his arm, she raised her head and carried herself with perfect posture as Gakupo lead her smoothly down the hall. He didn't trip or anything.

As they went, they ran into Greg and Luka's maid, who both seemed to be hurried. The maid's face was actually red, and she got redder when she saw that Luka had her shoes on and all was well. "You tricked me, Greg! That's not funny. Just like the time you told me the Queen was demanding tea and she wasn't there, but you were." With that, the maid stormed off.

"Lily! Lily, come back! I swear! Her shoes were off…" Greg called after her desperately, and then turned to Luka. "How?" he asked softly.

"Gregory, you know that's no way to talk to a princess." Luka said loftily, with a smirk. Gakupo stared at them, but kept walking. Clearly frustrated, he motioned for Gakupo to stop. The man complied, and stared at the princess and servant in mock annoyance. He tapped his wrist and then gestured down the hall. They could hear music and chatter wafting down from the ball even now, and Luka was expected soon.

"Just wait a second, Gakupo," Greg said, before crossing his arms at Luka. "Now you stop messing with me. You and I used to play with each other when we little, and we've been friends for years. I can talk to you however I like. How did you get those shoes on without killing yourself?"

"That's for me to know, and you to never find out," Luka replied curtly. She then grabbed him arm with her free hand, and dragged him over so she could whisper to him, "Consider this my little revenge for setting me up with Gakupo." Greg smirked at her.

"What, you don't enjoy your escort?" he asked back with an innocent tone in his voice. She rolled her eyes, and pushed him away.

"You go chase after Lily. She looks awfully frustrated. She might not talk to you for a whole _week_ this time." Luka turned to Gakupo, who once again had the inquisitive look on his face. "We can keep going now," she muttered to him. He nodded, and began to walk again.

"You know me. I'll charm her back," Greg called after her.

"Oh, I'm sure," Luka cried in response, before she put on a mask of royal snobbishness. Gakupo peeked at her out of the corner of his eye, and puffed out his chest a little. He was surely the luckiest man in the world to be able to have this time with Luka. They rounded a corner and soon were upon a grand stair case, which swept off at the sides. He had practiced with Greg so he would not trip down these stairs. And he didn't wish to embarrass Luka by doing it now.

They stood at the top of the steps, and stared down into the party. The guests were colorful, and they chattered about this and that. The weather and so on. There appeared to be a few key centers of activity – one was around the buffet table where glasses of yellow champagne were carefully stacked and mounds of food sat. Another was around her parents, and then the dance floor. But then there was yet another, around a boy who had a shock of blue hair and then wore a blue uniform across which was a gold sash that had a few medals on it. Undoubtedly _that_ was the prince she was to marry.

Luka's heart leapt to her throat in panic. What if he was a pig? What if he was a total idiot? She debated running, and took a step back. Gakupo's arm quickly tightened around her hand and he reached across to pat her hand reassuringly. Although he tried to smile, Luka noticed a kind of sadness about him as he held her still and gave her courage. Smiling, she regained herself and nodded to the man who was to announce them.

"Princess Luka Megurine!" The man cried out, voice carrying over the din of chatter and music. Suddenly everything went quiet, as all, including the blue boy, turned to look at her. The man then cleared his throat and continued, "And escort," he added, with less emphasis. Luka surveyed them all, and the nodded at Gakupo, who began to lead her, slowly and carefully, down the long stairs.

As they made their painfully slow decent down the stairs, Luka watched the blue boy near the stairs. The crowd parted respectfully for him as he did so. She now saw a simple, little gold circlet around his head. That was, without a shadow of doubt, Prince Kaito. She steadily got more and more nervous, and her grip tightened around Gakupo's arm. He was her rock, and she was grateful for his support.

They reached the base of the stair case, and she felt Gakupo beginning to move to the side. For a moment, she clung to him. Luka then remembered herself and let him go while focusing entirely upon the man who was bowing before her. Her attention was so intent that she did not see the look of pain on Gakupo's face.

It killed him to watch Blue Boy bow and take Luka's hand in his to kiss it. Politely, Blue Boy said, "Princess Luka. It's a pleasure to meet you." He smiled at her, and Luka smiled beautifully back. How Gakupo wished he could tell her that he too was a prince, and that they could be together. Then she could smile at him and he could dance with her.

"Prince Kaito," she replied, with a curtsy. "The pleasure is all mine." They were being perfectly polite, and Luka was already bored. But her face did not betray it. She kept reminding herself of her duty to her kingdom. Duty to her parents. Duty to her people. It became a chant in her head.

"Would you… ah… care to dance?" The prince ventured to ask after a momentary pause. She nodded, and he lead her out to the dance floor. No one stood in their way as the pair danced, but Gakupo watched in agony. He could not dance well, he knew that. He was no prince to her, he knew that, too… but it was hard to accept. It hurt to accept that he had no place in her world. He felt his heart could crack, watching her dance with that Blue Boy prince and look so perfectly beautiful in the stunning metal of the sea, which was common wherever his people were.

Swallowing, he stumbled through the crowd, which politely watched the couple dance to the end of a song. Finally, other couples flooded the floor, and Luka politely asked Kaito would find her something to drink. Her eyes scanned the room for Gakupo, who seemed to have disappeared. _That's impossible. I wonder what he's up to._ She rolled her eyes mentally, and then grinned. _He's probably getting in trouble. I had better find him._

Contrary to what Luka thought, Gakupo was far from gone. Gakupo was brooding. He sat scowling in the corner of the room until a waiter came along with a tray of the yellow liquid. When he was offered some, he took it and began to investigate what it was. He smelled it, and then watched the bubbles come to the surface in fascination for a while.

He was about to taste it, when he was asked to dance by a girl. He nodded, put the drink aside, and began to dance with her. He paid her little attention, and merely watched as Luka danced with her father. Her eyes wandered similarly, but she did not seem to notice him. With a touch of depression, he thought, _She's probably looking for Prince Blue Boy._ His partner finally left him when he stood on her toes one too many times.

Perhaps he shouldn't keep dancing. He was about to leave the floor, when he was tapped on the shoulder. He turning around, Gakupo began to gesture that he was going to go take a seat when he saw it was Luka. "There you are! I was wondering if you were getting into trouble without me there to watch you." He grinned at her, and shook his head.

He began to mockingly dance and then held out his hands to her. Luka blushed, and looked at the marble floor. "Well…" He made puppy eyes at her, and she laughed. "Alright. _One_ dance. One." She said sternly, and nodded and took her into his arms to dance with her.

Gakupo was dreadful. He couldn't keep in time to the waltz, and he trod on her toes more than once. But he seemed to be having so much fun and his pleasure was so infectious that she couldn't help but to carry on with him. At one point during the stoic waltz, he moved to spin her around. For a moment she hesitated, but she went along with him, and twirled around with a peal of laughter. They danced for much longer than one dance, and he dipped her and tripped her. He spun her many more times and she had a wildly good time until Kaito tapped him on the shoulder.

"Ahem," the prince said. The two stopped mid-dip and Gakupo's heart and high spirits sunk as low as the dip he had planned on putting Luka into. "May I take your place?" For a moment, Gakupo considered picking Luka up, tossing her over his shoulder and carrying her off. But he was more civilized that that. Pulling her upright, he bowed deeply to Prince Blue Head, and stiffly left, a scowl only appearing on his face once he'd found his corner and champagne.

Glowering, he watched them dance. Not even the fascinating new drink – he presumed you were supposed to drink it, since it was in glasses – could cheer him. But he then took a sip and found it quite tasty. It bubbled nicely on his tongue, too… Thus he began to drink. He had no concept that this was the same liquid that made his sister Meiko so dizzy and crazy. Nor did he really care.

But suddenly everything seemed much funnier after a couple glasses of the yellow liquid. He laughed and stumbled around and felt marvelously light-headed. Finally, after much drunken tom-foolery, Gakupo worked his way over to Luka and Kaito, who were conversing about ships while Luka focused mostly on her chocolate covered strawberry. She was bored by Kaito, who seemed to be all manners and small talk.

When Gakupo leaned on her, she smelled champagne strongly. Alarmed, she turned to see him gesturing wildly with no real rhyme or reason. He seemed to be flopping around like a fish, although why was completely beyond her. "Gakupo," she began gently. "You're drunk. You had better go…" The purple-haired man shook his head, and grabbed her shoulders. He needed her to _understand_. Desperately, her eyes found Greg. He took the hint, and pushed his way forward to grab Gakupo.

"C'mon, buddy. Let's get you to bed, alright?" Greg said, coaxingly. Luka hoped that it would work before too many people noticed and her father got protective.

"Please Gakupo, go with Greg," she plead, but the man shook his head wildly and began to make more gestures. He wasn't going anywhere, and clearly he wanted to say _something_ to her. Glancing around, she saw disapproval on all the faces glancing their way. Quickly, she took Gakupo's arm and dragged him up a set of side stairs hidden at the back of the ball room, designed for stealthy entrances and exits, although this exit went far from unnoticed, since Gakupo resisted her every step of the way.

"Come along!" she shouted angrily at her drunken fool, once they were alone in the hallway. Thankfully, Greg had followed them and was there when Gakupo collapsed. Luka panicked a little, but saw his lips moving in nonsense shapes. "You idiot," she muttered harshly, as Greg hoisted Gakupo to his feet.

"Where to, milady?" Greg asked. Grimacing, Luka said, "Why don't we just go to my room. It's closer." She took Gakupo's other arm, and together they pulled the dead weight of the drunk man to her room. Once there, they dumped the purple-haired man on the bed. Still, his eyes fluttered, but soon he took deep, even breaths which told her he was fast asleep.

"Greg, tell my father I'll be back shortly, and then get Lily to make me a room elsewhere." The man hastened to leave, but then she said, "I know the boat leaves early in the morning tomorrow… make sure that Gakupo is in one of those cabins. I want to keep an eye on him." Greg nodded and then left.

Sitting down on the bed next to Gakupo, she smiled down at him. "You moron. Did you really have to go and get yourself drunk?" She said this gently. A tender expression was on her face, as she brushed a long piece of purple hair out of his face. Luka leaned forward, and looked closely at his features. He looked so peaceful when he was sleeping. She then quickly stood and left, hurrying back to the ball.

Gakupo would sleep through the rest of the night and then into the next day, only to wake up to the feel of his room rocking side to side with a nagging suspicion he'd done something stupid that he couldn't quite remember. Not that anyone could have remembered anything through the painful headache that he had.

* * *

**So I just want to let you know that these things will be coming QUICKLY from this point on. A chapter a day is my goal, because I want to get this done (hopefully) BEFORE Gakupo's birthday. XD In fact, don't be shocked if I add a gratuitous fluff chapter on the date if I get it done before then. 8D**


	14. The Third Day

His head throbbed. And the fact that the room was moving didn't help much either. Gakupo frowned as he sat up, and then tried to stand. As the floor rocked, he compensated for it. Slowly, he took tiny steps and easily adjusted to it. He looked around the room. This wasn't his room... His eyebrows shot up in confusion, and he looked down at his clothes.

The outfit from the previous night was still on his body. Sitting back on the bed, he pulled off the boots off. That felt better. He saw another set of clothes were put on the other side of the room, laid neatly on a chair that appeared to be nailed still. It was another vest – light purple, with no designs. He stared at his ball clothes. The colors were better on those… but he willingly changed.

New white pants, new boots – black leather again, but they went up to his knees – and a white shirt that reminded him of the billowy-sleeved kind the sailors wore. And then as he slipped on the vest, he left the room. At first he just poked his head out the door, but then he inched the rest of the way out. He was in a hallway; the floor was lavishly carpeted with a rug that was dark green with red and gold accents. Lamps were on either side of him, made of finely spun glass. Obviously it was the ship of someone with wealth.

But Gakupo didn't notice or couldn't tell, because he was wondering if he had been kidnapped. Was Luka kidnapped too? Perhaps she was in danger. A look of determination formed on his face, and he pasted himself to the wall. He would sneak around the kidnappers' ship, find Luka, save her, and then they could dive over the side and he would swim them to safety.

Maybe it wasn't the best plan, especially if she were still wearing all the metal and the ball gown from the previous night. He frowned and then began to inch along the wall. First things first – find and save Luka. They would figure the rest of it out when he got there. Gakupo was perhaps fantasizing it a bit much, because he imagined Luka being terribly grateful.

"Oh Gakupo!" she would cry, "You saved me! Thank you! I wonder what I can do in gratitude?" And then she would kiss him for being a hero and then he could talk and they would live happily ever after. The image quickly popped in his mind. No, that wasn't Luka. _Who cares! LUKA NEEDS SAVING!_ He kept at his slow trek along the wall.

"Oi!" A familiar voice called after him, and Gakupo turned to see it was Greg walking towards him. Greg! He must have been captured as well, and had gotten free, just like Gakupo. Grinning, he made a shushing movement and then tried to convey that they had been captured as well as he could.

The servant's eyes narrowed, and then he sighed. "Whatever you're doing, stop. We need to hide you back in your room. Luka wanted you here so she could keep an eye on you, but thanks to your drunken display last night, the king has forbidden you to get anywhere _near_ her. He doesn't even know you're here." Greg bit his lip, and Gakupo became serious.

By miming a crown on his head and then long hair while fluttering his eye lashes, Gakupo asked where Luka was. It took Greg a few guesses for him to understand, but that hardly mattered. "She's having lunch. With Prince Kaito." Gakupo's heart shriveled. Blue Boy was at it again. He debated going through with his earlier plan, regardless of whether or not Luka was in danger. Then Gakupo tried to play out whether or not he could see her later.

Greg looked unhappier than ever. "The King has Lily watching her 24/7, and she's more on their side than ours. She wants Luka to marry Kaito… and she's not too happy with me either…" he muttered the last bit. The two men stood there, grimacing and thinking.

Suddenly, Greg snapped his finger, and grinned. "Hey! Idea. So I'll charm Lily into distraction, and you can run off with Luka for a little while. I can't grantee that it'll work, but it's worth a shot, am I right?" Gakupo nodded vigorously, and beamed at the man before hugging him and clapping him on the back.

"Okay, you go hide in your room, and I'll be right back when I've got it all set up." With a beam, Greg nearly ran off when Gakupo grabbed his arm. He pointed at Greg, and then at himself and then raised his shoulders.

"Are you trying to ask me what our relationship is?" the other man asked, but Gakupo frowned and waved a hand while shaking his head. Trying again, he added a sign which he hoped showed helping. "Uh… why am I helping you?" Gakupo nodded.

It wasn't that Gakupo wasn't grateful. In fact, he probably shouldn't be looking this gift seahorse in the mouth, but he wanted to know.

"Maybe because I like you. And maybe because I see a lot of the way I try to impress Lily with the way you impress Luka… But most of all I think it's because you make Luka smile and laugh, which is something I think she ought to do more often." Greg smiled at Gakupo, and grabbed his shoulder. "I think you're good for her, and I love her like a sister. She deserves that." With a squeeze, Greg ran off.

Feeling pleased, Gakupo went back inside his rocking room, and wondered where he was. He was rocking side to side… and Luka was here… Wait. He was on the boat where Kaito and Luka were to celebrate their engagement! He scowled at the thought. At least he had Greg's support in this.

Noticing a window, he moved the curtains aside and saw they were definitely in the sea. His heart ached for it, actually feel the waves and water and taste the salt. Placing a hand on the window, he felt a little lost. He could no longer have the waves, and it was looking more and more like he couldn't Luka either. Intense melancholy consumed him. It was his last day, and it was probably already midday.

Where was the time going? He grew more anxious as the time passed. When was Greg going to get back? Gakupo was nearly ready to climb up the walls when the other man returned, a grin on his face. "Luka's meeting you in an empty cabin. We've got it all set up like a tea room. C'mon!" Carefully, the wandered through the halls, and for a brief moment the hallway opened up so Gakupo could smell the sea air and spot a little slice of dark water. He stopped there, and watched the waves in silent longing.

"Hey, don't stop now, we've got to keep going…" Greg turned to look at Gakupo, and totally misread his stare. "Oh, it's okay. The Sea Witch is a study boat. There's no way we can wreck. You'll be fine." Gakupo didn't hear a word the man said; instead he listened to the enticing splash of water against the hull of the ship. The waves seemed to enticingly call to him.

Thankfully, Greg grabbed him by the arm and tugged him along. "Remember, we can't let you be seen!" Gakupo remained dazed until he was – literally – tossed into the tea room. "Now wait here."

The purple-haired man took a seat. What had that been? He'd been so desperate to run forward and just dive in… He slapped himself gently. _Wake up. What's wrong with you? You're still here for Luka._ Grimacing, he wondered if maybe the Sea Witch was getting impatient and was trying to kill him sooner. _Nah. She probably has better things to do._

Little did he know that he was completely justified to think this. Teto had, in fact, tried to lure him, and sent an angry little ripple of a wave when he was pulled away.

Gakupo dwelled in silent depression, until Luka carefully snuck in. She was back in her men's clothing, and seemed more comfortable than she had last night. He wouldn't care whether she was in a ball gown or a cloth bag – he thought she was beautiful any way. But she definitely seemed more… Luka-ey when she was in her pants and vest, and her hair was up in a bun.

Inwardly, he thought – perhaps a little mischievously – that the dress last night had highlighted her curves a little more. The thoughts were brushed away when she beamed at him.

He leapt to his feet, grinning. Unfortunately that grin didn't reach his eyes. And she noticed. "Gakupo… what's wrong?" The princess asked, feeling a twinge of concerned. He had seemed sad since the moment she'd danced with Kaito.

He shook his head and tried to make his smile seem a little less forced. "Oh, don't you nothing me." Her hands went to her hips, and gave him a stern look. "Now. What is it?" He looked to the side, and swallowed. The smile slid off his and he slumped into a chair, looking sullenly at the floor. Could he really tell her it all?

She knelt in front of him, looking concerned. Tilting his head up so she could look into his face, she saw his purple eyes had that same pleading sadness in them. Her heart went out in pity. What was it that left him seeming so abnormally depressed? "Gakupo," she smiled gently at him, "You can tell me. It's okay."

Sighing, he tried to think about how to formulate the thoughts that roiled in his head, but the he shook his head, and looked away from her. There was no way that he could express himself to her without his voice. It was just impossible. It wouldn't be the same.

The song. That was what Gakupo required to tell her it all. He'd been working on a human version of it, but it didn't hold a candle to the original. A grimace etched itself on his face, and he glared out the window, watching the waves that he'd become a part of, and all because he couldn't have her.

A long list of depression things began to march through his mind, and the grimace deepened with each new item he added. However, she didn't leave him alone. He felt her place a hand on his knee, and once again she used both of her hands to turn his face so that he looked at her. Luka's soft hands cupped his cheeks, and he looked into those beautiful, kind and caring eyes.

Blue. Like the sea on a good day – when the light hit just right. Gakupo could have stayed right there, with her hand against his face looking at him with such tenderness. He wished he could say the words he felt. A little stubbornly, he looked down at the wood floor.

"Gakupo," she said, at last. "Don't you dare divert your eyes. Look at me. Please." He looked back at her beautiful visage, and his heart beat hard against his rib cage while he felt an intense desire for her. A look of stubborn sullenness was on his face, while she looked equally determined, but to understand. "Just tell me. I swear, you can trust me with whatever it is."

As his expression softened, she wondered if he was going to give into her. A tiny smile appeared on his face, and he looked at her as if to say that she could never understand. He raised a hand slowly, and she thought he would start gesturing with it. Instead, he reached for her face, and brushed aside her bangs before touching her cheek.

Luka felt bound to the spot, as he leaned forward and then kissed her, softly on the lips. She froze, and she felt the familiar strange flip-flop of her stomach that she got when she thought about Gakupo. But she didn't move to kiss him back as he pulled away. Rather she stared in wide-eyed surprise as he gazed at her.

Gakupo. Loved. Her. That was what had him so depressed, because she had to marry Prince Kaito. It fell into place, and she felt like an idiot for not noticing sooner. Her heart leapt in joy, but her mind cried out in anguish.

She couldn't love him. She. Was. Engaged. Besides, she'd met him three days ago! You couldn't fall for someone in so little time. It was just impossible and ridiculous. The woman spun away from the man who made her feel so torn. _Duty over my feelings,_ she thought. _Mind over heart. You can't do this._

Luka looked back at him, and he looked up at her with no reservation. His face was strained. But the love he bore for he was evident upon his face. He looked so torn. A little desperately, he gesture for her to say something, anything. But she didn't know what to say. How to react? Part of her wanted to tackle him and kiss him until neither of them could breathe… but another part of her said that she was a terrible daughter and that she owed it to her parents to go through with Kaito.

The reason won over. Looking guilty, she shook her head as he stood. "Gakupo… I can't. I… It's my duty to marry Kaito. I must. For my country." With each word, she thought he looked more hurt, and he settled down into the chair. Luka backed away towards the door. "I'm so sorry," she whispered, her voice breaking a little. She needed to leave before her resolve cracked and she started to cry. The princess bolted from the room, and rushed through the halls.

She spotted the blond Lily and Greg flirting in a corner, but as she passed by them, she began to tear up. Why had she turned him away? Because she was a princess. Stupid her. Swallowing, she bit back tears. Her throat felt tight from the effort of it.

"M'lady?" Lily asked, pulling away from Greg, who looked more pleased than the smuggest of cats. His expression changed when he saw how Luka looked.

"Luka? What's wrong?" He and Lily watched her storm past them and then they both went running after her, previous flirting session totally forgotten. "Luka! Luka, where's Gakupo?"

"Back in the tea room," she replied, still walking.

"You let her spend time with that purple-haired idiotic drunkard?" Lily exclaimed, looking furious. "Greg!" The maid whacked him on the back the head, and he grimaced in pain.

"Would you believe me if I said I didn't know?" he asked, looking sheepish.

"No!" The blond exclaimed, looking furious, before running next to Luka. "I'm sorry you had to be harassed by that mute moron, my lady."

Luka stopped walking, and glared at Lily, tears pricking at her eyes. "No one gets to call him an idiot or a moron but me." _He's my idiot._ She thought, feeling an angry tear streaking down the side of her face. _But…not really. I don't care._ Brushing away the tear, she took a deep breath and composed herself before turning to look at Greg and Lily, who looked equally shocked.

"Luka… are you okay?" Greg asked, somewhat concerned by the mood switch.

"I'm fine. Go get Gakupo back to his room, and make sure he has dinner. I don't want to see him for the rest of the night." Greg frowned at her.

"Did he do something?" He asked, slowly. "Luka, did he hurt you in anyway?"

"See? You can't trust him. You idiot." Lily moved to smack him upside the head again, but Luka shook her head.

"No." With that, she spun away from both of them and walked away. Luka keep her expression cold and polite, putting emotion on total lock down until she got back to her room and proceeded to cry. Gods, did she feel like shit. She did that for about an hour, while Lily knocked on her door.

Finally, Luka took a deep breath. She could do this. "M'lady! You've _got _to get ready for dinner! The sun is setting!" With a sigh, she opened the door and allowed Lily to put her into another dress. At least this time she got to wear more comfortable shoes… Before she left, Luka took a few deep breaths. She felt like she could go to dinner with Kaito, who was a nice enough person.

But he was no Gakupo.

* * *

***rolls around* THEY KISSSSEEEEED.**

**For some reason this chapter made me cry to. So I was freaking out 'cause the characters took me to kissing and then I got depressed, 'cause I got too much into their heads. .**

**MY WRITING STYLE IS VERY INVOLVED! T.T**


	15. Last Moments

Gakupo sat in silence. Rejection hurt. His imagination – which only two days ago had been littered with imaged of Luka in a stunning white gown – was now on overload as he imagined her walking down the aisle. She would be beautiful, dripping in white and being more beautiful than ever. But now as he imagined it, she strode towards a man all in blue, who looked emotionless.

Swallowing, Gakupo swore that he would not stop her. He wouldn't be around _long_ to stop her. But if Luka would be happier with Kaito, then he would let her go with him.

Gods, did that thought _hurt_ him though.

He wanted to be there to see her smiles. To laugh with her and have her tell him more about the human world. Gakupo wanted to spin her about again, and be an idiot for her. There was no denying that he was hers, even in rejection. Perhaps it was a little pathetic, but he'd never been one to cling to pride in matters of the heart.

Vaguely, the man remembered when he'd been very little, and he'd had a crush on a girl named Aria. He'd goofed off for her, gotten her flowers, and sung her so many songs. He was total imbecile around her… But he'd given up when she talked rudely about Meiko.

Trapped in melancholy, he looked at Greg with such a look of loss on his face once the man had come to retrieve him. "What happened?" Greg demanded. Lily followed closely behind, scowling and ready to scold.

Gakupo swallowed, and pantomimed him kissing someone. And then he acted out her rejection of him. It made him hurt even more to relive it, if only through his less-than-fantastic acting skills. The pain read clearly in his demeanor as her closed the story. His shoulders slumped, and his face drooped unhappily.

The servants looked at each other, and then Lily shrieked when realization dawn on her. "You _kissed_ her!" she exclaimed. "No wonder she was so upset. I oughtta…" Lily moved to slap him, but Greg held her back by clinging to her waist. She struggled as he started to speak.

"Lily… calm down. He's hurting. It's hard for us idiot men to put ourselves out there like that." He grinned at her, and then said, "Remember how we were?" Lily stopped and looked at him, and then at Gakupo.

With a sigh, she grimaced at Greg good naturedly. "You win me over too easily. Alright, I won't tear him apart. I'll go check in on Luka. She'll need to get changed for dinner tonight anyway..." Greg smiled at her, and then kissed her cheek.

The purple-haired man wished that what he had just seen could have been him and Luka.

"Now, will you let me go?" Lily asked Greg, who laughed and released her. As she walked out, Greg took Gakupo by the arm, and said, "Let's get you back to your room. I'm sure we can find you a job in the village when we get back. Or maybe you could look for your family." Gakupo nodded numbly, although he knew that by tomorrow there would be no need for it. He would be a part of the waves.

Greg was quick to deposit Gakupo back in his room, and probably said something reassuring to the man before he left. The depressed merman didn't hear a thing. If anything, the only thing he could focus on was the steady setting on the sun and then the feel of the ship rocking back and forth. Back and forth.

The motion of the water consumed his focus. It was easier that actually thinking. But that, perhaps, was why he suddenly decided he needed to be closer. Carefully, he snuck out of his room and found himself on the deck. On one end, a party of some kind was happening. People frolicked and laughed. In the midst was Luka, in a stunning purple gown which had slightly less poof to the skirt, but it revealed just as much on her. She wore no jewelry besides the Opalsque crown… not that Gakupo still had to stop and stare when he saw her.

He turned away from the bright party, and found an empty and dark corner of the ship, where he sat, relishing the breeze, the sea spray, and the salty air. These were once his waters. The merman had left not a single corner of his domain unexplored. There were many lovely sea creatures here who were his friends… and his sisters and brother were down there.

Admittedly, he even missed his father, gruff man that he was. He desperately missed the twins being annoyingly loud in the morning. He missed Meiko's drunken rants, and Gumi's funny-looking goggles.

Speaking of her goggles… was that violent green he saw in the water? That was! It was accompanied by two spots of yellow and one brown head. Grinning, Gakupo stood and bent over the ship's railing to wave to his siblings.

"Oh thank god! The Sea Witch _said_ you were on a ship…" Rin shouted up to him.

"… But we thought she lied. We've seen several ships and you weren't on any of them!" Len finished. Something was different. Gakupo noticed that as they spoke. And then he saw that Rin and Len now had much shorter hair. Eyes widening, he played with his own locks and then pointed at Rin and Len.

"We all went to the Sea Witch to ask where you were," Gumi explained. "Oh, Gakupo, how could you do something so stupid! Selling your voice for a human girl?" Gakupo jutted out his jaw and crossed his arms stubbornly. He maintained that it was worth it even _if _he died when the sun rose.

"There's a solution, though." Meiko cried out. "We can save you! You can return to the sea and live… but you have to kill –" Gumi cut Meiko off with a harsh gesture.

"We each sold her something. The twins gave their hair. I gave her my goggles and my collection of human things. Meiko gave her all of the human liquid." Gakupo's eyebrows rose. Those were all things that his siblings adored. Gumi had worked hard to hide that collection from father, and Meiko snuck to the surface in order to drink human liquid that made her act silly.

He shrugged, as if to ask, 'Why?' Gumi grimaced, and produced a dagger made of the rainbow colored metal that Luka had worn so much of a few nights ago. "Take this dagger," she said, tossing it to him. Gakupo barely managed to catch it without slicing his hands to ribbons. Once it was in his hands, he saw the blade was etched with bizarre looking symbols. This blade was magic… but what was its purpose?

"Take it, and stab the girl in the heart," Meiko said. Gumi glared at her as Gakupo stared at her in outright shock. He stared at the dagger, and held it away from himself as if it were poisonous.

"Why'd you have to go and say it like that? He'll never do it now," The twins scolded Meiko at the same time. She shrugged.

"I gave away my entire collection of human liquid for this. I'm sorry if I'm in a bad mood." The merwoman crossed her arms, and looked darkly at the light haired twins.

Gakupo began to back away from them. He would not, could not kill Luka. The man would sooner kill himself that harm her in any way shape or form. "Gakupo, don't leave!" Gumi cried. "When she dies and bleeds on your legs, you'll be able to come home. Think about it. Do you want us to live without you? What about the things we gave so we could have you back." His eyes flickered with doubt as he gazed him, but he stopped backing away. Knowing that she was getting to him, Gumi pressed on. "Come back to your family. Come back to people who love you. Who cares about some human who will just forget about you?"

_I care._ Gakupo thought forcefully. His lips tightened, and he held the dagger over the side of the ship and dropped it into the dark waves. His siblings stared sadly at him as he did so. "Oh, Gakupo. You were always passionately in love. We'll remember you fondly," Gumi said, smiling sadly. The twins turned to their sister, and grabbed Gumi's arm.

"Does this mean he's going to die in the morning?" Rin demanded, her voice getting panicky and high-pitched. She turned her head to look up at Gakupo, her voice breaking as she got more concerned. "You can't leave us! We can't let you die!" She turned to Gumi again and pleaded, "Please, convince him that this is stupid! Does he not love us?" Again she swung her head to look at her purple-haired brother. "Don't you want to be with us?"

Gakupo smiled sadly at her, and nodded. He touched his heart, and then made a motion towards the group of merfolk. _I love you all. So much. But I love her… so much more. _He thought. He waved to them, and watched them depart one by one. First to go was Meiko. She gave him a smile and shook her head before blowing a kiss and diving under. Rin and Len went next. Gumi passed a sobbing Rin to Len, who encouraged her under the surface.

Gumi was the last to go. She and Gakupo had always been quite close. "Goodbye, Gakupo. I hope you know that I love you still and respect you for the choice you're making." Gakupo grinned, and kissed his hand and then held it out past the rail towards her. It was an old merfolks parting motion, and it meant respect and love between the people who made it. She returned the motion towards him and then dove under.

_Goodbye, my lovely sisters. And strong Len. Be the prince I couldn't have been. _With those thoughts, he stepped away from the rail. Standing, he looked up at the sky. It would be his last night to gaze up at those beautiful dots of light in the sky. He absorbed it, and took deep breaths.

Now, for some reason, he felt totally at peace with his fate. The merman had his family's love. He didn't have Luka's love, but he'd gotten to spend time with her, and he treasured those moments. Gakupo had seen new things, and experienced a full life so far. And that was enough for him.

Gazing over the side of the boat, little tendrils of pink began to appear. This was it. The end of his days. He glanced back at the deck, and it appeared as though the party had ended. Now only the servants cleaned the space. Sighing, he glanced at the sea and then moved to stand on the railing. Precariously, he tipped, but maintained his balance. It was from here he would become one with his sea.

Taking a deep breath, he closed his eyes. And dove.

Just as he jettisoned himself into the air, he heard a scream and a familiar voice shouting, "Gakupo!"

* * *

***GAAAAASP* **

**CLIFFHAAAAANGEEEEEER~ **

**I enjoy this too much. =3**


	16. Hero Time!

Luka had been unable to sleep. The conversation between Gakupo and her kept replaying itself in her head, always starting with the kiss. And it was making her emotionally unstable.

First she would squirm in pleasure and blush like crazy with the memory of that gentle kiss… and then she would cry because of how she responded. There was no question that she regretted what she had said. And it was nagging at her conscience, because just as she would ready herself to sleep, the kiss would come back and she would go through the whole thing all over again.

And she really could use the sleep, because the party had been draining.

So, despite the fact that she wore a simple white nightgown, she slipped on simple flats and left her room and went to find Gakupo in his room. At first, she hesitated at his door. He probably hated her, she thought. So she would turn away from the door and then come back. She really had to confront this now, or she would never sleep. But then she added that he was probably asleep, and she shouldn't disturb him… Then again, she was the princess. If she couldn't sleep, no one had the right to sleep!

Gathering her courage, she knocked twice on the door, loudly, and waited. No one answered. Frowning, she knocked again, this time more insistently. "Gakupo?" she called gently, trying not to wake everyone else in the hallway just so she could deal with her relationship issues…

What would she say to him? Honestly, Luka didn't know how to fully express the mixed emotions. How did she feel, really? It was hard to say. She guessed that she would get there when he opened the door… but he never did.

_Maybe he's still sore about this afternoon… I would be_, _too… _she thought. That wouldn't do, because she needed to talk to him, right now. "Gakupo, I know you're probably angry. I need to talk to you. Please," she pleaded, and waited some more. Still he didn't answer.

She was polite and everything, but all of the social events she'd been to had used up her polite quota for the day. "I need to talk to you. I'm coming in." To her surprise, the door knob turned and the door swung open. That was odd. The door wasn't locked… Her brow furrowed as she stared into the dark room.

In the dark, she could spot a candle. She gripped the stand, and then went into the hall to light it on one of the little sconces on the wall. Stepping into the room, she saw that it looked virtually unused except for the bed and the clothes from the ball tossed haphazardly on it. She stepped inside and touched the coat, remembering the delight of their dance that night with a small smile.

"Gakupo, are you here?" she asked, and went to see if – in his quest not to talk to her – he'd hidden in the closet. She wouldn't put it past him, since he wasn't in his bed. Sliding open the door, she expect to be greeted with a surly Gakupo… but instead there was nothing inside. _Where had he gone?_ With a frown, she left the room and explored all the halls. Well, he wasn't walking around in there. She'd even checked the tea room, to see if he had stubbornly continued brooding.

But he was nowhere to be found. Her heart fluttered in worry, and she rushed out onto the deck just as Gakupo climbed onto the railing.

_What was he doing?_ she thought, picking up her pace, although the nightgown hampered her movement a little. _This is why I hate dresses,_ she thought, furiously, trying desperately to reach him before he did something impossibly stupid.

And he did. He jumped over the side. In her surprise, she screamed to him, "Gakupo!" But by then it was too late. The man had fallen over the edge of the boat. She gazed down into the water, and saw his hair. "You imbecile!" she howled after him, even as she panicked.

There wouldn't be enough time to call for a member of the crew to save him. Quickly, she blew out the candle, tossed it aside, and plunged over the side after him. _You big moron,_ she thought furiously, as she entered the water perfectly. _You'll owe me for my rescuing you. _

She swam to him, underwater, as he stayed perfectly still, a look of serenity on his face. It was eerie how he hung there, looking suspended and trapped in time. But there was little time to lose. Hastily, she grabbed him tightly around the waist and dragged him to the surface. The woman inspected him. He didn't seem to be moving and something funny was happening to his hair and clothes… they seemed to be… disappearing into the water. She pulled herself over to the boat and clung to it even as her terror built.

Fear consumed her, and she glanced up at the deck. She could only keep kicking for so long, and only now could she hear the sound of many feet pounding on the deck and the cries of "Our princess is overboard! Quickly!" That all didn't matter now. It faded into the background as her focus zeroed in on the man before her.

"Gakupo! Gakupo, can you hear me?" she screamed, tears starting to trail down her face. She couldn't lose him. Not now. Not like this. "Gakupo, don't you dare die on me, you fool!" Her voice was breaking and the fear consumed her. He did not appear to hear her at all, and now the edges of him were looking foggier.

The sun still rose, and Gakupo still did not move. The fear came to a climax, and Luka did the only thing that occurred to her to do.

She kissed him.

She kissed him with all her heart behind it and willed him back to life. There was no way she could do mouth-to-mouth with no support, but she could give him her love. The woman pulled away, and looked at his face, still wet from the water. More tears came. She grabbed his shirt collar, and pulled him close

"Gods dammit. You can't die! I… I love you so freaking much you complete and utter nincompoop!" Something bizarre happened when she said that. Suddenly, he looked less foggy, although all the hair that had disappeared in the water was still gone. But his skin seemed to shimmer, as if something was being finalized, and a glow appeared at his throat.

Luka watched in awe, and at last Gakupo coughed and water came spewing out of his mouth. She beamed at him and then leapt into his arms as he blinked and looked around in surprise.

The sun had fully risen. And he wasn't sea foam. And Luka was in the water, clinging to him. Gakupo kicked, unaccustomed to have to swim with human legs, but he was quick to adjust so that he could look at Luka, who appeared to be crying. He wiped away a tear, and she smiled at him and laughed.

"Thank god you're alive!" she cried, hugging him tightly and then kissing him. Gakupo nearly forgot to keep kicking. But he moved over the boat so he could hold onto it and kiss her back. As he did so, he hands moved into her hair, and his mouth was curved into a pleased smile. _So this is bliss, _he thought. But then he realized something.

If he was still alive, and the sun was up, and Luka was kissing him… He pulled away from her, just as she did, and she looked furious. "Don't ever scare me like that again!" He blinked at her and then swam away just as she splashed him. _Sudden mood change, run away!_ Gakupo thought, although he really just wanted to hold her until the end of his days, mood changes or not.

As swiftly as she yelled at him, she was back to hugging him again. "I'm glad you're okay, though." She hugged just under his chest, so that her chin was submerged, but he could still see a content smile on her face and the way her eyes were slightly closed. His own smile echoed that, and he kissed her on the head.

"I… love you too, Luka." He said, slowly and lovingly. The words sounded clumsy, and he had an accent, but that hardly mattered. Those were his first words to her, and he couldn't wait to express more to her, now that he could. Her blue eyes widened in shock and she stared up at his face.

"Did… you just speak?" He nodded to her, and she gaped and then exclaimed, "But how? Were you pretending to be mute the whole time?" She was prepared to be furious at him (or pretend to be furious at him, she couldn't really muster the emotion over the overwhelming wave of joy that she felt over the fact he was alive) but he quickly shook his head.

"No… I was… mute. You see… I used… to be… a merman. But I… traded my… voice – that is the word, right? – so I could be human and be with you." She frowned at him, and then laughed.

"That's ridiculous! Now tell me, really." Gakupo gave her such a solemn look that she gave him returned it with a concerned frown. "That was a made up story to make me not mad at you, right?" His expression didn't change. "The joke is over, Gakupo. Tell me the truth."

A cackle filled the sky, just as the men got a rope over the side of the boat, and Gakupo and Luka were thrown away from the vessel by a mighty wave. The ship seemed more and more distant, and then, rather suddenly, they were pushed onto an empty beach. Luka looked around, shocked, but Gakupo stood up and stood defensively in front of her.

"_Sea Witch! I've won. Now leave Luka out of this."_ Gakupo shouted, in Mermaidian. She stared him, not comprehending the words or the need for his defensive stance. They were on a beach, and would be fine.

Another sharp laugh boomed, as a woman with dark pink hair in tight curls around her face appeared. She looked human… until you got to the black octopus tentacles that were where her legs should have been. Two shells of a similar deep pink to her hair covered her breasts, but other than that, the woman was unclothed. Luka's eyes widened and she stood so she could move away from the grotesque woman.

"I must be dreaming," she muttered, eyes transfixed upon the tentacles as they swirled and moved. The princess hoped that in a few moments she would wake up to find this all a bad dream… except the part with Gakupo was almost too good to be true.

The octo-woman laughed harshly. "No. This is no dream," she responded, in human tongue. Gakupo stared at her, prepared to protect Luka from whatever it was that the Sea Witch schemed. "He was telling the truth, you know. But our little Gakupo isn't just a merman, oh no. He's the oldest son to the king of the merfolk." Luka stared at him. So he hadn't lied.

Somehow she was willing to accept that… It explained his choppy language and why he knew so little about human ways. "Is this supposed to mean anything to me?"

"I thought perhaps you might be against loving a fish. You know, you could always just… give him to me. I'll be out of your life, and you can go on to save your kingdom. It's your duty, you know." The Witch smirked at the other pink-haired girl, and Luka grimaced. It was as if she were reading Luka's mind. But the answer was easy.

Gakupo stared at her, but Luka just smiled and hugged him tightly from behind, propping her chin on his shoulder. "Thank you for the offer," the princess responded politely, "But he's my moron, and I plan to keep him." She smiled at him, and he laughed back at her.

The Sea Witch fumed. "I guess I'll just have to take him, then." As a tentacle shot out towards Gakupo, Luka shoved him aside and was grabbed instead. The woman struggled as Teto's tentacle slowly wrapped up to her neck and began to choke her. "I do hate it when negotiations fall apart," the Sea Witch commented, "But it's so much easier than fighting for things. And takes less effort too."

Gakupo stood, and shouted, _"Stop!"_ It was easier to speak in Mermaidian than in human. It took less time, and he couldn't lose her because he didn't act quickly enough. The Witch glanced at him, but did not stop strangling Luka. _"I'll go with you. Willingly. I won't even fight. Just… let her go."_

"_And you'll sing?"_ The Witch replied in his tongue. He nodded solemnly. _"And you swear never to leave or run away."_

"_Never" _Gakupo replied softly, looking at Luka who stared him, begging him to explain what was going on. _"So long as she lives."_

The Witch considered, and then nodded. _"Done."_ She declared, in a booming voice as Luka was dropped to the ground. The pink-haired princess gasped as she lay in the sand, and Gakupo swallowed at the sight of the angry red welts on her neck.

"Gakupo… what…?" she asked, still struggling for air.

"It is… okay. I have taken care of it," he smiled at her, kissed her, and then stood to leave. It was at that moment that Luka knew he'd sold himself to the octo-woman just so he could save her. _How gallant of him, _she thought, with a small inward smile. And then she frowned. _And how incredibly dumb of him, too…_

Luka wasn't just going to let him walk away.

"Gakupo!" Octo-woman called, and gestured to the sea. The merman grimaced, and then began walking into the surf. Octo-woman turned just as he did so, and Luka saw her chance.

From her resting place on the sand, she had noticed a sharp-looking piece of wood that was probably a remnant from some ship or another. Ignoring the pain in her neck or her dizziness, she stood, grabbed the wood, and then charged at the Witch's back.

The wood poked out of her stomach, and Teto screamed, the winds whistling with her pain. In her anger, she turned to face Luka and zapped her on the chest, just over her heart, with a bolt of some kind. Gakupo cried out in shock, and ran to the woman, who had crumpled on the ground.

There was no questioning, though, that the wound was killing the Sea Witch. The merman's greatly-shortened hair flung was flung into his face, and he shielded his visage from the spray of the waves, which seemed to lap further and further up the beach.

It seemed the waters were trying desperately to claim the Sea Witch.

Gakupo dragged Luka further up the beach. If she were dragged into the wild sea, he wouldn't be able to save her as he had last time.

With a moan, the woman spun wildly and back into the waves. Her tentacles coiled and began to spasm, as the water around her roiled in tandem with her pain. Further and further she backed into the water, but she looked at Luka as she did so. The girl had… defeated her. It was strange think that, as she was so used to _winning_ thanks to her little plots.

But now she had lost. _Although maybe not… entirely_. Teto thought, smirking even as her body started to fade into the waters. _An eye for an eye, my dear princess. You have killed me, and I have killed you._ A sharp cackled once again filled the air, and lightning split the sky.

That was her final thought, as the roiling waters consumed her. The Witch's power became one with the sea, and Gakupo stared from the shore, watching in disgusted fascination.

His attention soon turned to Luka, who did not move. "Luka," he whispered hoarsely, touching her cheek. Still she didn't budge. Where the Witch had zapped her, the nightgown was burnt, but Luka's body seemed unharmed.

"_What did she do to you?" _He said, not bothering with the human. She wasn't here to hear him. But she was, he thought, looking determined. "Luka. Luka… do not go. Stay with me," he whispered to her. He'd only just found that she loved him. "Luka… I love you. Do not… leave me."

The words didn't seem to make her react. He pulled her limp form into his arms, and cradled her there, gently stroking her lovely hair. "Please…" he begged. And then, he rested his chin on her head, and began to sing.

It was his song. The song he'd wanted her to hear and the notes and phrases, love and sorrow poured out into it. He felt as though something powerful was moving through him, and the emotions carried him deep into the meaning of the song. It was the purest way to say how he felt for her, and it seemed to capture what human words could not. Gakupo's eyes closed, and he prayed – to the merfolks gods, to the humans gods, to any god who would listen – that she would live.

Give him just that one thing, and he'd never ask for anything ever again.

* * *

She heard singing. And felt a deep pain in the area of her heart. _Leave me alone, you singing person,_ Luka thought, feeling like she was wrapped in the hurt and trapped in some dark place. _I hurt all over. Just let me sleep._

But the voice did not stop. If anything, it grew stronger and more insistent. Why did it sound… familiar?

It was the fact that she _knew_ the singer from somewhere that made her struggle. Even though the words were in some other language beyond her comprehension, Luka knew it. It felt… personal and loving and passionate. Like this was meant for her and for her alone.

The woman struggled in the blackness, feeling like she was clawing her way back to something far and impossible. Her soul was just… so tired and she ached. Surely she could just rest for a little while…

But her instincts screamed that this was wrong. That she needed to keep fighting, for whatever reason. Why _did_ she need to keep fighting?

A friendly smile appeared in her mind's eye. A man with long purple hair and beautiful eyes grinned at her and held out a hand. He was saying something to her, but for some reason the sound never made it past his lips. This man repeated the mute phrase a few times, before she realized he was saying 'I love you.' Each time he said it, he seemed to mean it more and more.

Gakupo. She needed to get back to him. She dragged herself towards the voice, something in her soul telling her that he was the one singing to her. Luka had to return. She had to tell him how much she loved him. And she had this other sense… that he was in trouble and he needed her.

Finally, a light appeared at the end of the blackness as she clawed her way through the dark. Gritting her teeth against the exhaustion, she reached a hand out. It was… just beyond her reach. Luka stretched with all her might, and then at last she leapt for the light, scraping it with the tips of her fingers.

Gakupo heard a cough, and stopped singing. He moved to look at her. "Luka?" he asked, amazed and overjoyed.

"I'm… alive, you dimwit," she managed, her eyes fluttering open so she could look at him. He was smiling from ear to ear, and he pulled her into his arms and hugged her tightly.

"Thank goodness," he whispered, his breath tickling her ear. "I cannot lose you." She smiled gently, and then hugged him tightly back. They pulled away, and then Luka carefully pulled herself out of his lap so that she could stare at the water and lean on his shoulder. He placed an arm around her, and laid his head on top of hers.

She frowned then. "What happened to the Octo-Woman?"

Gukopo had to think on that for a few moments, and then laughed. "Oh, the Sea Witch." His expression darkened, as he formulated what he wanted to say. "She will not harm anyone ever again," the man stated simply, squeezing her arm momentarily. It didn't please him that he'd nearly lost Luka to her magic. "The sea devoured her." He seemed to be gaining confidence in speaking her language.

Her frown deepened, but she was quick to let it go. Whatever had happened, the Witch was gone, and she and Gakupo were alive. They sat in silence for a while, considering the water and what had just happened to them.

"So… a merman?" Luka ventured. Gakupo nodded.

"Do you mind?" He asked, raising an eyebrow.

"No. But it might be hard to explain to my parents." The purple-haired merman chuckled lightly.

"But we get to live – what is the phrase they use at the end of stories? – happily ever after," he said, and she grinned at him.

"Yes, but that's assuming we ever get off this beach," she retorted. The man surveyed the sand and looked for any signs of where they could be. Finally, he looked at her, and then shrugged.

"As long as I have you… I do not care where I am." Luka blushed, but as he moved in to kiss her, she knew that she really didn't care about the beach or her parents or how he made her feel embarrassed.

She had her idiot, and all was well.

* * *

**THIS IS NOT THE END!**

**I've been asked for an epilogue, and you... shall get an epilogue. But I have a very serious question - shall it be their wedding day orrrrrrr years later with kiddos? 8D**

**TELL ME IN YOUR COMMENTS!**


	17. Epilogue: Bedtime

**A _few_ things before this begins.  
**

**I don't take credit for the names of the children. Longlonglong ago Kirby (a.k.a. kkbook on DeviantArt and Sakagami Hina on here) drew a picture of the GakuLuka children. The amazing Luvandia commented on it, and proposed two names that I REALLY LOVED for them, since Sango's name also means 'coral', which I thought was appropraite considering her father, and Murasaki means 'purple'. Yeah. So I give her CREDIT for those fantastic names, even if they might not be the "actual" fan-made children. ^^"**

**Next, I wrote this in honor of Gakupo's birthday on the 31st! So... yeah. HAPPY EARLY BIRTHDAY GAKUPO! **

**FINALLY (God, I must be annoying.) ****This IS the final chapter. *snifflesniffle* I'm going to miss this! **SO ENJOY, AND THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR READING~

* * *

"So what did you do, Mommy? How'd you and Daddy get off the beach?" Luka smiled down at the little girl in her lap. She had Luka's hair, pink, but her big eyes were her father's – purple. Luka shifted, and her daughter shuffled in her lap, so she could better cling to her mother.

"We were found by my parents, and when we were pulled on board, I told them that Gakupo and I were getting married." Things had gotten even more exciting when Gakupo told them not to worry about his being royalty, because he was _actually_ the prince of the Merfolk. They had thought he was crazy until King Triton had appeared. This had also been exciting, because Gakupo then got to explain to his that he was going to marry a human girl and that he was permanently a human now.

_Who knew mermen were all so dramatic?_ Luka thought, with a smirk.

"Daddy really is a mermaid…" little Sango muttered, with a look of total awe on her face. The six-year old seemed to smile smugly. "Wait 'til I tell stupid Wesley this!" Wesley was Lily and Greg's son, and he and Sango couldn't get enough of each other, even if they called each other names non-stop.

"Merman. Girls are mermaids." Luka corrected her daughter gently.

"Is that why I can talk to fish and Murasaki can stay underwater for so long?" Her daughter had always been an inquisitive one, especially at bedtime.

"Yes. I believe so. Now. It's time to go to bed." The woman picked the little girl up with a light grunt, while the little girl whined. As usual, Luka ignored the protests. "You're getting big." The woman stated, grinning at her daughter.

"Big enough so that I can beat Wesley in arm wrestling!" the child proclaimed, distracted from the distasteful action of going to bed. Squirming, Sango moved so she could more easily rest her head on her mother's shoulder. "Master Bo also said that I did very well in dance class."

Luka's eyes trailed down to glance at her child, and she smiled gently. "You've told me. I'm very proud." Even now, she could see Sango getting tired, and inwardly she hoped that the little girl would be asleep by the time they got to her room. Of course, then there was the matter of her other children.

Jokingly, Luka had often said that she had three children – a daughter, a son, and a husband.

She had sent Gakupo ahead to put Murasaki to bed… but sometimes Gakupo forgot that 'putting a child to bed' meant that you tucked them in, gave them a kiss, and said goodnight. There were many times that had to rein her husband in and drag _him_ back to bed. Many times, she had caught the two boys at playing some wild game.

As if the illustrate a point, a man with long purple hair zipped past her – thudding through the halls – with a little boy with shorter but equally-purple hair on his shoulders. Luka grinned, and then tried to look stern as she watched the two play.

"Giddyup! Faster horsy, we must save the princess!" The little boy cried in a high voice. His father laughed and whinnied convincingly. Ever since Gakupo had _seen_ a horse, he'd loved them, and so he often ended up as the trusty stallion in such games. Rearing back a little ways down the hall, she heard her son let out a squeal of laughter as the 'steed' turned to look at the two women.

Luka raised her eyebrow at him, while Sango wriggled her way out of her mother's arms to run towards her father. "Daddy! I want to play too! I want to be the princess!" Her little brother scowled down at her, and crossed his arms.

"You can't be the princess! _I'm_ the knight, and the knight has to marry the princess once he saves her. I can't marry _you._ You can be the dragon." Murasaki stated it with such bluntness, it nearly made both of the parents smile, but it wasn't a compliment.

"I don't _want_ to be the dragon. I wanna be… OH. I'll be the fairy." The two began to chatter eagerly about how the fairy gave the knight a magical sword that would help defeat the evil dragon. That, and the fairy had to come along, naturally, to help the knight should he ever fall into peril.

Gakupo grinned sheepishly at Luka, who shook her head and walked towards him. "This is your idea of putting the four-year-old to bed?"

He grinned. "Hey, what can I say? I get very involved in my bedtime stories." Since the encounter with the Sea Witch, Gakupo's hair had grown back, and was perhaps a little longer than it had been before. Of course, since the encounter with the Sea Witch, Prince Kaito and Meiko had gotten married, Luka and Gakupo had become King and Queen and they now had two children.

The woman shook her head at the man she loved. "You really are hopeless, aren't you?"

"Hopelessly in love with you," he responded without missing a beat. Gakupo had mastered English, and was all too good at responding with quick lines like that which still made her heart flutter and her face heat girlishly.

The Queen cleared her throat, and her eyebrow curved even higher. "So how are we going to deal with our riled-up children?" Gakupo grinned as he heard cries of 'Mommy will be the princess!' and 'Daddy, let me off your back! The horse died, and now you have to be the dragon!'

Carefully, Murasaki slid off the man's back, and then Gakupo smirked at his wife mischievously. "Well, I guess we have to finish the story." Luka's face blanked in question, when Gakupo swept her off her feet, laughing in a way that could only be described as the cheesiest evil cackle ever.

"Mwahahaha! I have the princess!" the purple-haired man declared, running off towards the bedroom, with Luka in his arms. Since she was in a simpler blue gown, this was easy for him, but Luka shrieked in unfeigned surprise.

Of course, she then laughed as she took a look at Gakupo's 'cruel' face. He looked slightly constipated.

"Mommy! You're not supposed to laugh!" Sango shouted, running after her father, making whooshing noises for all the spells she was casting in an attempt to stop the 'Dragon'. Gakupo kept shouting back reasons why he was dodging them.

"Yeah, Mommy. You're _supposed_ to be in trouble," Murasaki declared, puffing as his little legs tried to catch up with his older sister.

Luka then grinned wickedly at Gakupo. "Apparently I'm in peril," she said softly, before crying out dramatically, "OH! Help me! Help me! I'm trapped by the _horrible_ and _wicked_ Dragon who shall surely devour me when he takes me back to his lair! Whoever shall save me?" She had brought up the pitch of her voice to it sound as though she were wailing.

The children cried out in unison, "Never fear, fair maiden! We'll save you!"

"Bwahaha! You shall never have her!" Gakupo shouted back, the laughter in his voice just barely suppressed. He turned into Murasaki's room, and then set up his Evil Lair in the corner. "See? I have put her away in the tallest tower of my castle!"

"Oh yeah? Well, I've got a magic sword!" Murasaki replied boldly, reaching for one of his wooden swords. The little boy took a few steps forward, while his sister ran next door. She soon reappeared with a pair of extremely pink wings on her back and a wand in her hand.

The little girl made another whooshing sound, and shouted, "Quick, Sir Knight. I have frozen the Dragon! Kill it now!" Gakupo froze in a ridiculous position, his face stuck in a thoroughly unattractive expression – one eye bulging, the other squinting while his mouth was crookedly open with his tongue hanging out – and both of his arms were held tight to his body, and one leg was held up in the air at a bizarre angle.

Luka knew he had posed just like that, because there was no way he actually been moving like that before. But the two kids in the room thought that their father was simply too much. Sango began to giggle, and then snort, while Murasaki simply collapsed in laughter shouting, "Oh, Daddy, you're silly." Soon both were on the floor twitching in fits of laughter.

"'O you think they'll ever get to killi' me?" Dragon-Gakupo asked, his mouth remaining in the still. "It'th vewy ha' being thuck with one le' up." His words were nearly unintelligible, but it merely made their children laugh harder. By now, both of them had tears in their eyes. Finally, Luka walked around Dragon-Gakupo, and picked up the wand and the sword.

"Now do you promise to behave, Mister Dragon?" The corners of Gakupo's mouth turned up.

"Yeah," he said, still frozen.

"And that you won't steal any more princesses before bedtime?" Luka continued, while her children breathed deeply, staring at their parents.

"Awwwww… why no'? I li' thealing printhethith!" Luka smirked at him.

"I'll only unfreeze you if you agree!" She declared.

"Ohhh… alrigh'." Dragon-Gakupo said, looking down-trodden. Luka was about to make the whooshing noises, when Sango stood up, looking weary.

"Mommy, I mean, Princess. The magic only works for me. Lemme do it." With a wave of her arm, and some weak magic noises, Sango declared, "You're unfrozen. Now I'm tired."

"Me too," Murasaki said, slowly standing up. Gakupo moved out of his position, and picked up the little boy up and plopped him into his bed. Luka pulled Sango close to her, and then walked over to Murasaki's bed to give him a kiss on the forehead.

"Thank you, my brave little knight. Goodnight." Gakupo kissed Murasaki too, but by the little Gakupo-replica's eyes were shut. The man brushed aside the boy's short curls and smiled at the light breathing of his child before following his love into Sango's room. A similar ritual was completed, but Sango always asked that Gakupo sing a song for her before she went to bed.

It was _the_ song that he always sang for her. It now included lyrics for Sango and Murasaki both and he had written them when they were born. Luka stood in the corner, as he sang the few stanzas which were for Sango and Sango alone. The little girl fell asleep, with a smile on her face and clinging to her father's hand.

Gakupo couldn't believe that he had these two children. That they were his and Luka's, together. Children were precious to the merfolk, and no less so for a merman-turned-human. Suddenly he felt a hand on his shoulder and he looked up at the woman who had brought him all this happiness.

"We should go," Luka whispered, leaning over to blow out the candle next to Sango's bed. Nodding, the couple wandered out of the room, shutting the door carefully. They walked hand in hand, but just before they went into their room, Gakupo grabbed her around the waist and kissed her.

Luka didn't hesitate anymore when he did that. She just kissed him back and counted her blessings for having him. At last, he pulled away. "What was that for?" she asked lightly, a smile on her face.

"For having you. Here. With me. With Sango and Murasaki." The Queen grinned at her king.

"I wouldn't have it any other way." They kissed again. _This,_ she thought. _Is what we call happily ever after._


End file.
